Animal
by ImmortalDawn18
Summary: Zero loves Kaname. Kaname's never been all too fond of the hunter though. But when our poor confused pureblood is changed into an adorable little puppy, will his experience change his mind? And what's up with Takuma and the random black cat? ZxK, TxOC
1. 1: Meeting Experiment 426, Cat

Dawn: Well, I've been reading a lot of Vampire Knight, and I thought it might be nice to start into this story, using one of my favorite pairings: ZeroKaname (the entire blood-drinking scene in the manga is what opened my eyes-the fact the bathroom is destroyed when you come back to them only reinforced it, never mind that it looks like they're making out...). Anyway, this story is a direct responce to the Challenge posed by **I Change My Name To Often**: Fuzzy Animals.

Zero: Oh god. I don't wanna be an animal!

Kaname: I don't either!

Takuma: And what am I doing here?

Dawn: I love you too much to let you get out of this unscathed, so you get a lovely OC to go have fun with! Now my only problem is whether to make it a girl or a boy...

Takuma: *sweatdrop* You're gonna leave it up to others, aren't you?

Dawn: YEP! Go check out the poll on my profile to vote! For now though, because I'm lazy, the character will be a girl.

Kaname: Maybe if we do the disclaimer, she'll shut up...

Zero: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

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><p>Chapter One: Meeting Experiment 426, Cat<p>

_Zero squirmed in the tight grip that held him, his loud panting echoing in his own ears just as loudly as he knew it did the other vampire's. "Kaname," he hissed, his hips wriggling against the pureblood's hand, "stop fucking _teasing_."_

_Said pureblood just smirked, slyly licking along Zero's ear and letting his tongue play with the silver piercings he found there, his hot breath sending goosebumps up the hunter's spine. "But it's so fun to watch your face when you just want to cum," he whispered teasingly. "Besides, I have to make sure you pay for biting Yuki all those weeks ago."_

_"I already said... I was sorry," he ground out, almost letting out a whine when those slender fingers tightly squeezed his erection._

_"That's not good enough, Zero," the brunette hissed. "I want you to bite me until you can't remember what any one else tastes like, including yourself, and then I want your hot mouth around my cock as you suck me off and then lap up my juices like the dog you are." There was a loud bang of flesh against wood, almost like the sound of knocking, but Zero disregarded it as the wooden headboard knocking against the plaster wall as he threw his head back in a wanton moan because those fingers had _finally_ allowed his hips to buck up into the lovely sensation._

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><p>Kaname opened his eyes in a panic, getting to his feet. He whined, ears drooping against the side of his head. Wait, ears! He spun around wildly, finally catching sight of himself in a water bowl in the small cage he was kept in. He had been turned into an adorable chocolate brown puppy, just the right size for being adopted. He let out a deep growl, the fur on his haunches and tail bristling as he tried to remember anything important, but he came up blank. He could remember his name and a few things, but not much else other than faces and names. Thinking that maybe voicing his thoughts out loud might help him remember, he quietly barked out the words aloud. "<strong>My name is Kaname Kuran. I'm a pureblood vampire and the original ancestor of the Kuran family. I am eighteen years old in vampire years for this body, and I attend the Cross Academy Night Class, which is full of other vampires. The person I love most is Yuki Cross, and the person who I hate the most is Zero Kiryu<strong>."

A loud clanging sound had him flinching away, his ears pressing close to his head to try to block out some of the harshness of the noise, but all he got was a small black cat thrown into his face. The cat blinked its big yellow eyes up at him, cocking its head to one side as it sat down before him. "**So you're finally awake**," it mewed softly, the voice quiet enough for him to feel confident identifying it as a she-cat. "**I was beginning to think you were dead like all the others. The Master has never managed to get one right other than me before, but he had an advantage with me**."

"**Who are you?**" Kaname asked warily, "**and who is this Master you speak of?**"

The little cat cleaned off one long claw lazily, almost as if to tell the dog to keep his distance. "**I am Experiment 426**," she stated, "**and the Master is the one who made us this way. He's going to change to world with his discoveries**."

"**Do you know who he is?**" he repeated slowly, resisting the urge to nip the cat on the side to assert his dominance.

"**No**."

"**Do you know how to get out of here?**"

"**Not a clue**."

"**Well, you're useless then**," he complained, glaring at her.

"**Did I say that?**" she purred in amusement. "**No, what I'm good for is escape. I know how to survive as an animal outside these cages, and you don't. Plus, my claws are strong enough to pick locks, just not these ones because the Master knows I can pick locks**."

He sighed. "**Why didn't you tell me that in the** **_first_ place?**" he asked irritably, the fur on his tail bristling.

"**Why didn't you ask?**" Her tail twitched from side to side as she got up, a little dismayed to see she only came up to his shoulders, Kaname couldn't help that he was quite a big dog for his approximate age, though she tried to hide it under her nonchalance. "**But why are you so eager to escape here? Don't you want to help change the world?**"

He shook his head, focusing his mind on the lock as he willed the molecules to vibrate until the metal gave under his focus. "**Haven't you ever had someone you loved, someone you had to get back to?**"

She sighed, nudging the door open with a single push of her muzzle. "**No. Humans are nothing short of cruel, and vampires little better than beasts themselves**."

Kaname paused for a moment, noticing that she was obviously not coming with him. "**What if I could prove you wrong?**" he asked quietly, his voice subdued with his awkwardness. "**You just have to come with me**."

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><p>Takuma sighed heavily, taking what he very well thought would be his last breath of air as he knocked on the seemingly-innocent wood of the door that held his death behind its white oak. "Zero Kiryu? Can I speak with you?" he asked quietly, knowing the exhunter would hear him no matter how loudly he spoke, that is if he hadn't heard him walking down the hallway first. "It's important."<p>

The door opened and an irritable silver-haired boy glared at the impeccably-dressed Night Class student. "What do you want, leech?" he growled, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "You're keeping me from my sleep."

This was dangerous ground he was treading to begin with, never mind that a sleepy Zero was one much more prone to shooting moving objects that pissed him off, so he licked his lips, shifting his weight uncomfortably as his eyes sought to look at anything but the lavender eyes of the hunter, even taking in the white flannel pajama pants hanging low on the other's hips. "I just thought you might want to know Kaname hasn't come back yet from his meeting with the Senate."

Lilac eyes narrowed in suspicion and anger. "You say that as if you expect me to care about the damn pureblood," he stated darkly, his aura far scarier than it was when he glared down the Day Class girls during class change every day.

Takuma stumbled back slightly, glad that he could see the Bloody Rose on Zero's desk across the room, out of his lunge range. "I've seen the way you look at him, Zero. I may not be all that great at reading you, but even _I_ can tell the difference between love and hate. You love him, Zero."

The hunter laughed sarcastically, throwing his head back as his body rocked with his mirth. "You must find it quite horrid," he said as he recovered, his sides heaving as his head fell back down, his hair covering his eyes, "A Level D, a creature just above insanity and worse than filth, loving a Level A, a god among your kind."

"Actually," the blond stated, "I find it refreshing." Lilac orbs skewered him in place, but the emerald conviction of his gaze never wavered. "Kaname has been held on a pedestal on his life, above critism... and away from other people. You were one of the first people to not care what he thought about you, mainly because you already thought he would hate you simply for being what you are. The truth is, I think it'd be good for him to have someone who speaks his mind, and I wouldn't be too surprised if he developed feelings for you. Yuki is a kind girl, but she's not suited for him. You are."

Zero stared at the noble for a long moment, then shook his head. "You're a strange one," he said, "but I don't think that's a bad thing." He shifted, hiding a yawn behind a hand. "Anyway, I know Kaname doesn't usually tarry when he has appointments to keep, but when he was younger he'd often be quite late to meeting Yuki, often in an attempt to teach her that she needed him. I'd give him until sunrise before I'd start getting worried about him."

Takuma had to ask. "And if he's not back by then?"

"Then there's a sale on fancy hardcover books, someone's bleeding to death out in the countryside somewhere, he found a long-lost cousin to fuck into the ground, he got buried in paperwork, or some serious shit has gone down."

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><p>"<strong>This is the place<strong>."

Kaname blinked at the sight of the large white door to the cozy little house a few miles outside the city, the garden filled with all types of greenery, though it was obvious the owner preferred trees. "**This is the place you said we could stay at?**" he spluttered, surprised.

"**Yeah**," the cat replied, leaping lightly onto the concrete step and yowling loudly at the door. "**My friend Laertes lives here. He hid me here the last time I escaped.**" The door opened to a handsome young man with soft light green eyes and cropped brown hair, who bent down to caress her along the underside of her jaw.

"Hello again, Kat," he murmured softly. "I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost again." He looked up then to see Kaname standing awkwardly by the side of the small sidewalk. "And you brought a friend this time." He strode over to the dog, kneeling down to Kaname's level. "What's your name?"

"**I'm Kaname, not that you would be able to understand me**," the pureblood grouched.

To his surprise, the other male laughed, shaking the offered paw. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kaname. May I invite you inside?"

Once they were inside the house, Kaname sitting formally on the couch while Kat lay splayed out across the glass surface of the coffee table beside the couch. "**Why didn't you tell me Laertes speaks our language?**" he growled in an undertone.

"**Laertes is a naiad. I thought you vampires knew tree spirits can speak the animal tongue just as thoroughly as they can the humans'.**" She yawned lazily. "**Now if you excuse me, I have some sleep to catch up on. Unlike you dogs, daytime is a cat's sleeping time, and I do _not_ intend to let it go to waste.**"

Kaname snorted, jumping down from the couch and walking over to the kitchen, where the scratching of his nails on the linoleum alerted the naiad to his presence. "Kaname! I was wondering if you were hungry. Would you like some food?" he asked without turning around.

"**Maybe later**," the dog admitted. "**I was wondering if you could get me to Cross Academy. I need to get back to my home as soon as possible.**"

Laertes's hands stilled in their movements for a moment. "Cross Academy is a long ways away," he said softly. "Besides, no one there will recognize you as you. Isn't it better to stay here, where you have Kat? She would never agree to go to a place filled with so many humans, never mind that if you left her, she'd be heartbroken." He sighed heavily, his eyes turning to the window. "Kat has had a hard life. She doesn't remember anything from her life before, but I've seen the files from where they held her. She was a Level E vampire before. She was hunted down by her lover, who slashed her throat and left her for dead."

"**I'm sorry**," Kaname murmured softly, "**but I have to get back to my friends. They'll be worried about me.**"

"I'm sorry too," Laertes muttered to himself, putting a piece of rare steak on a plate and lowering it to the floor for the vampire. After a few bites, Kaname felt woozy, his wine-red eyes coming up to watch as the naiad grabbed the sleeping cat and stuffed her into a cat carrier harshly, nearly shutting her tail in the door, before the black overtook his vision and he knew no more.

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><p>Kaname: Wow, I can't believe that worked...<p>

Zero: I know.

Takuma: Well, anyway, please review so that Dawn knows how she's doing! After all, she won't know that she sucks (or otherwise) if you don't tell her so!

Dawn: Until next update, readers! *gives two-fingered salute*

Note: Edited for slight grammar problems 5/6


	2. 2: Caught Between His Bloody Hands

Dawn: Somehow, at the same time, I am feeling simultaneous disappointment in you guys as readers and just about the best high I've gotten in months. It sends me over the moon that you guys like this story enough to review it so many times (give that button down there a workout baby!~); however, it also depresses me to see that no one has voted on the pool. Like I said, Kat's gender depends entirely on the votes. She's just a girl right now because I'm too lazy to make her a him (for clarity's sake), but since next chapter I'm planning on having her meet Senri Shiki, who grew up with cats and thus knows how to tell their gender for certain, unlike Kaname, who we all know would not know a male cat from a female cat unless it was having sex in front of him.

Kaname: *pouting* I would too.

Zero: Uh huh, sure. *totally not convinced*

Takuma: I can't wait to get my kitty! *closes eyes and waits for magic kitty fairy to come down from sky and give him Kat*

Kat: ... ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight, just me and the finer elements of the plot.

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><p>Chapter Two: Caught Between His Bloody Hands<p>

"Zero!" Yuki called, running after the pacing hunter, "Zero!" She yanked on his elbow, the first part of him she'd been able to wrap her fingers around, but he didn't move an inch, instead turning one lavender eye towards her, his eyebrow raised in a questioning manner. "Where's Kaname?"

The corner of his mouth fell in a disapproving frown as he yanked his arm free harshly. "Do I look like Kuran's personal GPS to you?" he stated angrily, his guilt over having to pretend to hate the pureblood flaring up at her hurt expression. "Go ask Takuma Ichijo. I bet he knows what the damn leech is up to." What she didn't know was that the hunter and the Moon Dorm's Vice President had been tearing apart the city trying to find the brunet, but to his annoyance, the other vampire had disappeared just as thoroughly as the dew on the grass following dawn.

"I'm worried about him, Zero," she confessed softly. "I know he's perfectly able of handling himself, but he's been gone almost a week now without sending word."

"Yuki," the hunter stated. "Kaname Kuran is a very powerful pureblood. What kind of person, other than me, would really be stupid enough to oppose him?"

She smiled happily at his reassurance. "You're right, Zero," she chuckled, "I don't know what I was thinking when I said that."

_It's in your nature to be concerned about the well-being of others, Yuki_, he thought to himself. _But why does it seem so natural for _me_, the one who deliberately isolates myself from others, to be in such a panic over a missing vampire?_ He sighed heavily, his eyes turning fond for a moment. _Because Kaname Kuran is special, that's why. He's the first vampire I've ever pointed the Bloody Rose at because I was trained to and not because I wanted to shoot the vampire bastard._

"Hey Zero," she asked, drawing him from his thoughts, "what do you want for your graduation present?"

He blinked, her words reminding him of the upcoming test to become a fully-certified hunter, one he was certain he'd pass with flying colors. It wasn't his first time killing Level Es, after all. "I don't know. I guess I'd want a pet." _Lies,_ the vampire part of him whispered insidiously. _You know exactly what you want, and that's Kaname Kuran's dick in your ass with his hand wrapped around your cock and his fangs buried deep in your neck as he sucks your blood from your veins while letting you ride him like you do White Lily._ He bit his lips to hold back a moan at the mental image that his imaginings brought, using his silver hair to hide the blush on his cheeks. "Not White Lily though, it wouldn't be fair to her when I graduate from Cross Academy and have to leave her behind because I don't have anywhere to stable her. I guess, if I had to pick an animal, I'd want a dog. "

"Sure," she said, her smile faltering for a moment, glad that he couldn't see her uncharacteristic change of expression, "a dog."

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><p>Kaname yelped loudly when he awoke, the fur around his neck bristling as his head twisted around to growl at the source of the pain in his flank. "<strong>Kat?<strong>" he barked, trying to hide his teeth now that he knew it was only his friend, "**What are you doing here? Where are we?**"

The tip of her tail drooped slightly in apparent sadness, which she concealed by wrapping the streak of black fur around her paws. "**Laertes betrayed me**," she mewed, washing the back of a paw as if she didn't care that the only person she'd ever trusted had abused that trust. "**He took us to an animal shelter.**"

Kaname cocked his head. "**I thought they separated dogs and cats in animal shelters**," he stated confusedly.

"**They do**," she replied, her tongue now swiping over a claw covered in sweet-smelling blood Kaname recognized as his own, no doubt the reason behind his wakefulness. "**I just picked the lock on my cage so I could make sure you were okay. You've been out for about a week now.**"

"**A week!**" he yelped, getting to his paws, but a firm paw pushed his muzzle shut, the very same one she had been washing not a moment before.

"**Be quiet!**" she hissed, yellow eyes gleaming in the dim. "**Do you want me to get thrown out?" **He glared at her in a silent answer, but she still waited a moment for him to better compose himself before pulling her slender paw back through the wide chain mesh of the door. "**Anyway, you're actually in the quarantine part of the shelter. Apparently you reacted badly to one of the injections the vet stuck you with during the obligatory check-up when Laertes brought us in.**"

"**Why aren't **_**you**_** in one of these then?**"

Smugness radiated off her fur as she proudly stated, "**Because every time anyone would come near me, I'd claw at them. It didn't take long for the humans to get the message. So long as they leave me alone, I don't scratch them.**" She examined his cage lock critically for a long moment before she reared up, one black paw resting on the cold metal siding for balance while the other skillfully assessed the security of the small lock. "**Hmm, small thing, more complex than the joke they put on mine but only two tumblers at most. It won't be all too hard to open. I'll have it gutted in five minutes, ten tops.**"

Kaname lay back down, his muzzle resting on his front paws as he watched her work. _My name is Kaname Kuran. I'm a pureblood vampire. I am 18 years old by human approximations and attend Cross Academy's Night Class, an elite program specifically for vampire nobles and presided over by me, the sole pureblood on campus. The person I love most is Yuki Cross and the person I hate most is Zero Kiryu._ The corner of his mouth twitched slightly; he felt as if he'd forgotten something. "The person I think of as my brother is Takuma Ichijo," he blurted, tail thumping once against the ground at the successful recall, yet there was no sarcastic answering remark from the cat. He poked his head out of the opened mesh door, hesitant to leave such a valuable ally, but since it was likely she'd simply wandered off on her own, he jumped to the floor and began looking for a way out, following the smell of the other animals here.

Suddenly, a pair of cold hands closed around his belly, lifting him up, and he couldn't contain an undignified yelp at the sudden loss of linoleum from underneath his tender pads. "Aw look," a male voice declared in what could only be labeled as a squeal, "isn't he adorable?" The dog had to repress the urge to bite the man's arm, if only so that he wouldn't drop the significant distance to the floor.

Calloused fingers eased him from the first man's cold grip, supporting his weight much more comfortably, his hands covered with fingerless gloves that smelled strongly of cigarette smoke, even though the grasp should have been much more precarious as he was raised up to stare into a single blue eye, the other concealed beneath a black eyepatch. "The physical appearance of the dog does not determine his suitability as a pet," the black-haired man stated dryly, his cigarette, unlit, bobbing in his mouth. "However, I doubt he will make an unsuitable companion for my stupid pupil."

"Ooh, put him in the carrier, Toga. I'll go fill out the adoption forms." The dog winced slightly at the increase in pitch of the voice of the first male, his ears clinging closer to his head now.

"Yeah, I know, Kaien can get a little excited as far as his adopted children are concerned," Toga admitted to the little puppy as he gently set the animal down on his paws in a roomy white and red dog carrier, "but he does mean well, even to his precious 'Zero-rin'."

_Zero-rin?_ Kaname thought to himself, sitting down in the confined space and letting his tail tap against the sides thoughtfully. _Could this Zero-rin be the same Zero as Zero Kiryu of Cross Academy?_

Toga sighed, closing the door and disappearing from view, though judging by the way his voice floated to Kaname, the human was leaning against the wall somewhere to his immediate left. "Still, I guess I'm glad Zero's going to be your master and not Kaien. If I got a call about a month later with him crying his eyes out and bawling that you had died, I honestly don't know whether I'd strangle him over the phone or wait until he held your puppy funeral to do it."

_Zero's going to be my master?_ Kaname bit back a harsh snarl, not wanting to ruin his chances of going back to Cross Academy if this was the same Zero he thought this was. _How ironic that my worst enemy will become my best friend. I guess I should be grateful he doesn't know who I really am, otherwise he'd likely toss me right back out again on my cute little furry ass._ The pureblood blinked at that, the rest of his mind finally catching up with his musings. _Wait, did I just call myself cute?_ He resisted the urge to bang his head into the side of the carrier. Judging by the way his thoughts didn't quite feel like ones he'd normally have, he figured he'd had enough brain damage to last him through _this_ adventure. He lay back down, his tail curling around his body as he closed his eyes so that he could catch up on some sleep he'd need in the very near future, absently wondering exactly what had happened to Kat that had caused her to disappear so suddenly.

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><p>Kat twisted her lithe little black-furred body around, glaring at the edge of her long tail as it curled back and forth lazily mere millimeters from the ground. She cocked her head though as no chocolate-brown dog appeared behind her, confused as to exactly when Kaname had left her. Her ears drooped sadly as she let out a plantative mew of "<strong>Kaname?<strong>" She planted her paws firmly apart, this time mewing much louder. "**Kaname!**" _He... he really did abandon me_, she realized forlornly, her head lowering as she began padding down the dirty alleyway once more. _What exactly was it that I did wrong? _Her ears perked up at the sound of woofing. "**Kaname?**" she called, desperately wanting to believe it was her canine companion. Instead, the creature that came around the corner was a hulking beast of a dog, its shaggy fur seeming to be a midnight black just like her own, but its ears were folded over themselves, unlike Kaname's, which were pointed like her own. "**You- you're not Kaname**," she stuttered, backing away warily as the fur of her tail flared up like a bottlebrush, trying to make her look bigger, though she was still nowhere close to the size of the dog.

"**Nope, little kitten**," the thing snarled dangerously, its pace slow and measured, very much that of a predator who didn't feel the need to properly chase his prey because he was absolutely certain he would capture it no matter what happened during the hunt, "**I'm Grim, and I've come to reap your soul**."

Frightened, she whirled around and fled, her long black tail streaming out behind her and creating a significant amount of drag, even as her ears were pushed back against her head. There were many roles Kat had had to play during her time in a feline guise, but prey had never been one of them. However, her body instinctually knew how to evade her pursuer, instincts navigating her through the maze of streets just as surely as if she had grown up on them instead of having only encountered them a matter of hours before.

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><p><em>"Zero," Kaname hissed, his crimson eyes narrowed dangerously at the shivering boy at his feet, "why are you giving up so easily. Fight, Zero, fight!" The hunter shook his head, his silvery hair falling over his lavender eyes but proving unable to disguise the flare of life and emotion inside their depths. "Fight me, dammit!" he cried, grabbing the boy by the throat and pinning him to the wall.<em>

_Zero cried out when he hit the hard plaster, but he didn't falter in his convictions. "I can't, Kaname! I won't fight you!"_

_That caused the pureblood to pause. "What did you say?" he asked, almost in disbelief._

_"I said," the exhuman stated slowly, "'I won't fight you.'" He leaned his head forward, gently licking a line along Kaname's neck as if to reinforce his words. "I don't want to hurt you, Kaname, not when I love you so much."_

_The Level A vampire laughed cruelly, pulling away and letting the Level D fall to the ground, the vampire hunter pushing himself up slightly with watering eyes as he gazed at the other male whose body was starting to be concealed by mist. "Then why are you giving up on me so easily?"_

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><p>Dawn: *yawn* Mmmmmm... I wrote this during my entire Friday of school and then all afternoon at home. Now I just gotta read through it one more time before I put it up...<p>

Kaname: I thought you didn't like Friday and Saturday updates.

Dawn: Yeah, well, I lied.

Zero: *facepalm*

Takuma: Please review since it gives Dawn the encouragement she needs to both finish this story and write it faster!

Kat: And if you don't review, at _least_ go do the poll! Please please please, I don't want her asking Kaname what gender to make me!

Kaname: *looks up from molesting Zero at mention of his name*

Zero: *escapes while he has the chance*

Kaname: Get back here! *chases Zero*

Dawn: I WANNA BE PART OF THIS TOO! *chases after Kaname*

Kat: *sigh* After this is basically review-answering, so if you don't want to read any of the rest of this, be my guest. Dawn won't hunt you down and tear your guts out.

Takuma: *facepalm* Anyway, until next time, readers!

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><p>Review answering:<p>

**Felixia:** Thanks for mentioning not wanting Zero to spill his guts to his animal friends. I was gonna have him do it, but I have something MUCH hotter and blackmail-worthy planned for him now. And you'll notice Yuki will also make an appearance next chapter, but there is a hint as to what's going to happen when she meets dog-Kaname. So you're busybodying and butting into my plot plans actually helped me out, so thanks!

**Chyrop:** Thanks for the compliment, and I agree, Kaname has definitely more of a cat personality, but since I think Zero's more likely to be a dog person, that means that he's gotta be a dog (plus we all know having Kaname out of his comfort zone is hilarious). But yeah, Zero's really the only one who takes Kaname off his pedestal, something I fully endorse, even if it means dragging him off by his balls...

**ElheiM: **Wow, thanks for all the compliments about the story and making Kaname a cute puppy (we all know the idea of having puppy Kaname is just so adorable!), and as for his breed, well, I kinda haven't figured it out exactly yet, but I do know it's something with more pointed ears. *sweatdrops* Anywoo, Kat is quite snobbish, but it's because of her past, and then as for Kaname's memory loss, let's just say it gets pretty bad. Did you notice his selective memory has changed?

**Love332: **YAY MORE COMPLiMENTS ABOUT THE STORY AND PUPPY KANAME! *smiles* I did try to make him cute. After all, it would be funny for tough old Zero to have a soft spot for an adorable little puppy (and very likely, knowing the hunter like I do... *shifty eyes*). And yes, Laertes turned on Kaname and Kat, but it's for plot purposes, so everything works out!


	3. I: A Crack Before the Mirror

Dawn: To those who expected an actual chapter here, my apologies, but I have a few reasons for putting this up instead.

Zero: First would have to be because Dawn is an idiot and only today realized she hadn't put her poll up on her profile. If you would please go vote on it, it would be much appriciated.

Kaname: Secondly, she had the brilliant idea of wanting to turn me inu!Kaname at some point, so this is my debut. If you like me as an inu, please drop a review as to its likability and then inu!Kaname might actually make it into the actual story.

Takuma: And thirdly, she just wanted to write a lemon-ish scene for this fic more graphic than the one she did for the first chapter.

Dawn: *smiles* You know me too well, Takuma!

Takuma: Well, it's not all too hard to figure you out...

Zero: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

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><p>Interlude: A Crack Before the Mirror<p>

_Zero stared down the barrel of the Bloody Rose, looking deep in the reflective surface of the mirror, and yet unable to quite believe his eyes when he saw the glow of his red eyes and pointed fangs pricking his reflection's lips even though he couldn't feel anything on the chapped skin. He could hear the rustle of the wind through the trees of the forest even if it couldn't muster up enough strength to move any of his silver hair, and the whispers carried by the shifting world._

"When you draw this gun, you must be prepared to pull the trigger on the vampire it's pointed at." _The advice of his mentor, Toga._

"Vampires are beasts in human form." _The words of Kaien Cross and the underlying creed of the Hunter's Association._

"How long do you think you can deny your nature, Zero? One day, you will wake up and find yourself covered in blood, having killed everything you held dear in a desire to make the pain go away, and when that day comes, I hope you think of me and realize that I was the one to do this to you, Zero." _Shizuka Hio's hateful words as she dabbed his blood from her lips using a pristine white silk hankercheif._

"All exhumans will eventually fall to Level E, or Level End." _His own cold summations come back to him. _"Once a vampire has reached such a low, it is a mercy to kill them."

_His vampire counterpart in the mirror smirked at him, tossing his head so that some of his silver hair fell behind his ears. "You can't escape me, Zero," he hissed, running a hand down his untattooed neck. "You are me, and I am you."_

_He cried out in pain, his finger tightening around the Bloody Rose. A bullet shot through the mirror, shattering the reflective surface and sending the glass clattering to the moss-covered ground where they glittered like stars. Tears fell from his eyes, landing on the shards to provide the contrasting gleam of light for the little beads of mercury, but a soft voice called through the trees then, borne on a wind more fragile than a butterfly's wing. "Zero." He let out a whimper, one that matched by the forlorn howling before him. "Zero, please, look at me."_

_Slowly, the hunter raised his gaze to the mirror, which had mysteriously repaired itself, only to find Kaname standing on the other side, his fingers of one hand spread along the glass wantingly. "Kaname," he breathed, leaning forward and only pulling away when his breath began to fog up the glass._

"_Vampires are beasts in human form, Zero," he murmured softly, sounding more forlorn and lonely than anything he'd heard before, "but do you know what it means to be a true beast?" He reached out, the fingers of his other hand tangling in the fur of a small brown puppy and causing a wind to push its fingers through his long black overcoat, the fabric flapping and dark chocolate hair swirling. When it died down, the puppy was gone, and the pureblood had handsome pointed dog ears and a shaggy tail, his face turned away with eyes closed. "You see, I'm far more of an animal than you will ever be."_

_It felt as if he was pushing his hand through the thick syrup the Headmaster would make every now and again, but he reached out to caress the upturned cheek, taking a step forward through the glass and into the goop, the surface of the mirror rippling around the limbs he'd inserted. "My Kaname," he murmured softly, smiling softly as the pureblood leaned into his hand with a low growl of pleasure. He raised his free hand up, pressing it through as well in order to run a single finger reassuringly down the ridge of a single brown-furred ear, "my prince." He stepped fully into the mirror, pressing himself through the barrier and then he was in those lovely arms, inhaling the strong scent that was purely Kaname Kuran, "my animal."_

_A low-pitched growl rumbled from the chest beside him, the Level A's hungry mouth descending over that of the Level D's, his domineering tongue diving past those chapped lips to explore every inch of the cavern inside. He wanted this man, wanting him so badly that it felt as if he would die if he wasn't buried balls-deep in his mate. Bare skin rubbed up against bare skin, the mirror world's clothing having long since dissolved from their bodies. "Zero," he hissed, grinding their bodies together and his tail standing straight on end when the hands clutched in his hair brushed against the back of one of his ears, "please." The hunter nodded in his only assent, somehow knowing that he would only experience pleasure at the hands of the beast._

_He squirmed in sharp discomfort as two fingers simultaneously breached his ass, but Kaname kept them together, gently stabbing around as he searched for Zero's prostate with a cool look on his face. As soon as he'd managed to locate it, knowing for certain it was what had happened by the sharp gasp the hunter let out and the tightened grip on his shoulders, he began moving his fingers about in earnest, making certain to keep brushing against that one spot to keep the pain and pleasure perfectly in balance._

_By the time Zero was crying out and bucking his hips back onto Kaname's fingers, now three in number, the pureblood realized that he as much as he didn't want to hurt his lover, he couldn't hold out any longer. Pulling his fingers from Zero, who let out a loud whimper at the withdrawal, he smoothly positioned his dripping cock at the hunter's entrance instead and thrust entirely inside with one sharp snap of his hips. He let out a growl at the sheer heat of Zero's extreme virgin ass, the added friction of using no lubrication other than his own precum and Zero's delicious blood leaking from the cuts he'd unintentionally made in the anus wall making him feel all the hotter on the inside. Still, he pulled his torso back to look at his mate, his ears perked up in a silent question. The only answer he'd receive was a ravenous Zero latching onto his throat with an ardent fervor he'd never seen the exhuman in before, eyes glowing a bright crimson even as he drank. He didn't think anything would be enough to slack the thirst he'd harbored for four years now, and Kaname's blood, rich and sweet as it was in its purity, was no exception._

* * *

><p>Zero looked at himself in the bathroom mirror as his fingers buttoned up his black Day Class jacket, his skin looking paler than usual with the restless sleep he'd had last night. Sighing heavily, he tossed a couple of blood tablets down his throat, grimacing as he swallowed the bitter, chalky squares. He grabbed the Bloody Rose from where it sat beside the faucet, sliding it into the inside pocket of his jacket as he strode into his messy room. He didn't spare another glance back at the cracked full-length mirror sitting in the corner, last night's dream still hanging too firmly in his mind for him to feel comfortable staring into its forboding depths.<p>

* * *

><p>Dawn: I creeped myself out writing this.<p>

Kaname: *sigh* Why did I agree to be worked over by this idiot again?

Zero: Because she writes us hot lemon scenes when she really feels up to it.

Kaname: Oh yeah...

Takuma: *sweat drop* Please review, since this time the next update will be part of the storyline, I swear!

Dawn: With the review-answering the only thing left to do, I'm gonna leave the poll open through Sunday (5/8). As soon as it closes, I should hope to get started on the next chapter, if not having it finished already...

Kat: This is my only appearance in this interlude! Peace out, y'all!

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**fujoshii92: **I know, I was laughing a little when I wrote it too. Thanks for the vote of confidence that what I write won't turn out crappy, and yep, that's a lovely dream sequence at the end of chapter 2.

**Treasons:** I'm sorry for not giving you the actual next chapter, I hope this lemony-ish interlude is enough apology for you!

**Love332: **Thanks for the supposed increase in interesting, which I feel like I just ruined with this. *sweatdrop* Anyway, I'm glad you liked Zero's "present" and the idea of Zero adopting Kaname so much!

**Heyaaa D: **You know, I never said that line, but now I wish I did. It would've been hilarious, to be honest (plus Kaname would've likely had a spazz attack on her!). And you actually managed to get pretty close to my imagined blackmail-worthy way Kaname interacts with Zero while concerned for his wellbeing for the first time (my eyes actually went wide as I read that part). I like your idea of what to do to poor Kat, I'll remember to add your vote to the poll, and YAY SUGAR! (As you may or may not be able to tell, I'm currently hyped up on the stuff myself.)

**Hyperion: **Thanks for the compliment on the story, and luckily enough, since I have lots of tests (and free days right after) and a handful of classes where we don't teach bell to bell, so as long as I don't get distracted by another story idea (not likely given the amount of attention I'm getting here and the sheer scope of my review-whore-ness), I should have the thing finished, but don't worry, I intend to not rush it. And as for the KanaZe action... I hope this chapter was enough to sate you for now!

**Procrastinating Writer: **First off, I just wanna say that I love your name! Okay, more seriously now, thanks for reviewing so positively, I like the KanameZero pairing too and it actually makes me sad there's so few stories involving nekos and inus for Vampire Knight! I WILL ADD MY OWN STORY TO THE LACKING ARSENAL OF HOT ANIMAL-ESQUE FICS, SO HELP ME! *strikes Superman pose*


	4. 3: Taming the Stray

Zero: Yay, we finally get to move on with the story! *looks around* Hey, where's Dawn?

Kaname: She got a little creeped out by how fast the reviews were multiplying, so she hid out in the bomb shelter in the backyard.

Takuma: SHE HAS A BOMB SHELTER BACK THERE?

Kat: Yeah. Kinda to be expected when you have an insane sociopath with a long history of violence and pyromania living in the house (coughDAWNhack)

Zero: Anyway, there's no actual mention of sex in this chapter since Dawn figures you got enough last chapter, nevermind that she was running a little long as it was, never mind if she added one of my sexy, erotic dreams... THAT I DIDN'T HAVE, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? *is all guilty because Kaname is staring at him*

Kaname: ... Right. Well, in any case, ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Three: Taming the Stray<p>

Zero looked at the silver Hunter's medallion in his palm, the silver chain falling from his hand in a small waterfall. He'd never imagined that his test would be something so easy, and yet he had never thought for even a briefest part of a second that it would come with such a cost.

_"Zero Kiryu," the Association's President stated with a sour look on her face as she sorted through his papers, almost as if the prospect of the hunter joining her numbers made her physically ill. "According to these reports," she stated lazily, her eyes narrowing as she laid the offending objects on the desk and stabbing them with a single manicured nail, "You have been skipping many of your classes at Cross Academy for the last week. Would you like to explain why?"_

_Zero wondered briefly if she had ever held an anti-vampire weapon in her hands, let alone against a raging Level E, and decided that it was highly unlikely. "It is of no matter to the Hunter's Association as to what I do in my free time," he stated monotonously, knowing that a touch of insolence not only strengthened his character as one who would not blindly follow orders but also established that he was not afraid to use his status as one of the great Kiryu hunters to his advantage._

_Her eyes narrowed at the unspoken challenge. "It is when you have been searching for a vampire, _Kiryu_." He flinched slightly at the stress on his name, so she pressed her advantage. "Why is it that you've been searching so diligently for Kaname Kuran when there isn't even a missing persons' report filed for him?"_

_His jaw came up in defiance, lavender eyes glinting. "Because if I didn't at least _try_ to find the damned leech, I wouldn't be able to face Yuki."_

_She smiled coyly yet managed to only look like a cat caught with one paw in the fishbowl, its claws extended and mere inches from the scales of the poor fish. "Yuki? Please. If it was about Yuki as you claim, you'd be striking out to find the Kuran Prince on your own, and yet all the sightings I have state that you had a partner, a blond vampire with notable emerald eyes, one Takuma Ichijo."_

_He forced himself to give an uncaring smile, spreading his hands as if to say 'Look, I don't have anything to hide from you'. "Your sources must be mistaken then," he said. "The only way I would let a leech work with me would be if I was ordered to."_

_He wasn't expecting her to call his bluff. "Oh really? Then why don't you pull out your cell phone and let me check your story for myself."_

_She thought she had him checkmated, but he had one last-ditch note to add to the moment. "Because I don't want Yuki associated with vampire hunters, not when she seems to attract her own kind of trouble as it is with all the attention Kaname Kuran bestows upon her."_

_She may have lost the match, but the war was certainly far from over. "You see, Kiryu, that is the problem. Your loyalty to your adopted sister seems to rival that to the Hunter's Association." She rested her full hand on the pile of papers now. "What you have to do to become a hunter is simple, Zero Kiryu, and what's more, it'll make all this," she tapped the pile pointedly, "go away. All you have to do is give up the search for Kaname Kuran."_

_He frowned. "Give up the search? Why?"_

_"What better way is there for you to prove that the Hunter's Association comes before any other demands, even those of your precious Yuki?"_

"I'm sorry Kaname," he murmured as his fingers left the clasp of the medallion now around his neck, "but I can't oppose her alone."

* * *

><p>Senri Shiki was in a dilemma. He had told his friend Takuma Ichijo that he wasn't going to get the bouncy vampire any more manga for his birthday (that's usually the first thing everyone thinks to get him), but since Rima Toya had already gotten him a new katana, the brunet was at a complete loss as to what kind of present he wanted to get Takuma, who needed a real good cheering up right about now, when his best friend and psuedo-brother Kaname Kuran was nowhere to be found. Well, to be honest, he knew what he wanted to get the blond, but he wasn't entirely sure he could even find such a creature. Since Takuma had seen all the pictures of a much-younger Senri with his reddish she-cat Sakura, he'd been looking around for a pet of his own, but as Senri knew from experience, it was nigh impossible to find a cat that wasn't so afraid of vampires that it would run away or claw the vampire at the first sign of escape. Besides, it wasn't as if he could just walk into a pet store or animal shelter, not when his very scent made all the creatures cower in fear and wildly try to escape their confines. He sighed heavily, shaking his head as he looked through the street vendor's stall one more time, trying to find an appropriate sheath for the new katana Rima had gotten him.<p>

At the sound of a loud yowl, followed by an even louder yelp, he looked up from the black leather sheath he'd been examining, his ice-blue eyes scouring his surroundings for the source and landing on a dark alleyway. Without another word to the vender, he strode over to the sidestreet, his thumbnail already poised to prick his skin at the slightest sign of danger. Level Es had tried much more convoluted tricks than this one before.

* * *

><p>Kat gasped, her legs locking and causing her to spin out mere feet from the wall. She whirled around, hoping to take another turn before Grim came back, but she was too late, the dog chuckling darkly at the far end of the alley. "<strong>Well well, kitten,<strong>" the dog growled as he stalked closer to her, "**Looks like you lost our little game.**"

"**Not quite,**" she yowled with her ears lying flat against her head, launching forward and clawing at his eyes, her back paws scrabbling for purchase on his muzzle so that she could use him as a springboard to escape. He let out a loud yelp, tossing his head back and forth and flinging her painfully into the cinderblock wall, where she crumpled at the bottom in a daze of pain.

"**Bad move, kitty,**" he snarled dangerously, grabbing her in his teeth and walking towards a large murky puddle left in a pothole that had escaped the gutter during the last rainfall. She squirmed in his grasp, trying desperately to land one solid claw on him to make him let her go, but she had no such luck, only marring the tip of her tail with the dirty water. It was apparent that Grim fully intended to drown the poor black cat before he ate her.

* * *

><p>Senri blinked at the sight of a squirming ball of fur being dumped into a puddle filled to the brim with dirty water. The dog holding it, a large jet-black creature, pulled his prize from the depths as soon as he caught the vampire's scent, the small creature, a cat, desperately gasping air into its heaving chest, and growled loudly at the intruding noble. "Beat it," the brunet stated darkly, stepping forward menacingly. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he had a feeling the cat would be the perfect solution to his problem. Cats were very intelligent creatures, and if it recognized that it had been saved by a vampire, it would likely accept a vampire's scent as more of a neutral thing than a thing to be frightened of. "The cat's mine." As he approached the dog, the fur on its hackles rose higher and higher in a display of aggression, but when he showed no signs of being intimidated, the animal let out a yelp, dropping the poor kitten from his mouth in the process, and turned tail. Senri didn't bother chasing after it, instead picking up the small sopping-wet kitten, its fur appearing to be a dark black underneath the water. He could count each and every one of the poor things ribs, and as for its temperament, it certainly seemed to be far from tame if the challenge in those expressive yellow eyes was anything to go by. "First thing's first," he stated to the emaciated creature. "We should get you cleaned up and fed before we do anything else." The cat merely blinked its eyes at him, swishing its tail and content to let the vampire carry it to wherever it was they were going.<p>

* * *

><p>Zero sighed heavily as he walked into the main room of the Headmaster's place, slinging his coat over a chair and leaving his muddy boots at the door. He hadn't wanted to tell Takuma that he couldn't keep running after Kaname, especially when all his instincts told him to screw the Hunter's Association with their rules and keep looking for his pureblood love-interest until he was found, hopefully putting him in a mood to seriously consider the hunter's advances, but it couldn't be helped now. His fingers flicked on the light switch tiredly, just in time for the Headmaster and Yuki to jump out of nowhere and scream "SURPRISE!" at him.<p>

In Zero's defense, he did what any normal person would do in such a situation-he shot his gun at the Headmaster, the bullet barely missing the poor man. "What the fucking hell?" he screeched, his hand still on the trigger and pointing the barrel of the Bloody Rose at the eccentric man.

Yuki looked a little sheepish, although extremely glad the silveret's ire wasn't directed at her. "Well, Yagari-san told us you'd passed your test, so we decided to hold a surprise party for you!"

A vein in his forehead twitched. "In the name of all that is holy, what the hell made you think surprising the one person who carries a gun on campus at this current moment was a particularly smart idea?"

"You really wouldn't shoot us, now would you, Zero-rin?" the Headmaster pouted from the floor. The sound of three more gunshots could be heard even in the classrooms, though the screaming of an extremely pissed exhuman could be picked up easily by the occupants of the Moon Dorm.

* * *

><p>Senri cocked his head to the side, blinking as he looked at the handsome black cat he'd just tied some blue ribbon around the neck of, even as it glared at him from its position on his bed (Takuma had been kicked out of the room, the model citing the amount of paperwork piling up in Kaname's absence to get rid of him). "You're right, you're right," the brunet stated, shaking his head as he undid the ribbon, "you looked much better in yellow." The cat glared at him mutely, and he sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I get it, little one, you don't like all the pomp and circumstance. To be honest, I don't either, but since I'm going to give you to my best friend Takuma for his eighteenth birthday, I kinda have to put up with it."<p>

A gentle nudge against his hip had him looking down again, the cat pushing its head against him softly and clutching the pale yellow ribbon in its mouth. He smiled softly, ruffling its soft fur. "Good kitty," he murmured softly, deciding now was as good a time as any to try to sex it. When it turned around, the bedspread puffing around its slender paws and its tail upraised in what he would almost label as disdain, he discretely peeked down at its anus as he tied the ribbon around its neck. Yep, the cat was a he. Once he'd finished tying the ribbon, the kitten glared at him for a long moment, no doubt exactly aware of what he'd been doing as he plopped him down on Takuma's bed before he left the room.

* * *

><p>Once Zero had calmed down, Toga thought it was a prudent time to let the new puppy out of his carrier. He didn't bother with any fancy announcements, just said, "Here's your present, stupid pupil," and opened the door to the carrier.<p>

Kaname, now free, shot out of the confined space, finally glad that he could be out of the space that only seemed to magnify his scent, something that had rapidly degraded since dogs did not bathe nearly as often as a human or vampire did. His ears shot up as he caught Yuki's scent, and he bounded forward happily, his tail wagging at the thought of being near his dear girl once more. Yuki, however, did not feel the same way, screaming at the top of her lungs and curling into somewhat of a fetal position on the couch, her legs inadvertently kicking Kaname in the muzzle as she did so. His tail and ears instantly drooped in sadness, letting out a whimper as he looked to the side, remembering that the girl was afraid of dogs, mainly because of the reoccurring trend of them biting her when she was little (of course, in retrospect and with his current perspective as a dog, he highly suspected she might have been petting their fur the wrong way, but short of time travel, he'd never know for certain). Warm hands, filled with a lovely lavender scent, pulled him onto a soft lap, and he began wagging his tail slowly at the gentle caressing of his fur. "**Yuki?**" he woofed, looking up hopefully.

Instead, it was Zero's lilac eyes that met his wandering orbs. "Yuki," the hunter sighed, "did you really agree to let a dog come into the house when they scare you shitless?"

She nodded, her arms coming down from around her face slowly. "I wanted to make you smile, Zero," she said. "If that meant letting you have a dog, then I'll just have to learn to live with him."

"So, Zero-rin," the Headmaster interrupted slyly, "are you going to keep him?"

The hunter bit his lip. "I don't know," he replied. "I want to, but I don't know if I can justify it to myself if Yuki's terrified of him."

At that statement, the pureblood turned his face towards the girl, pulling his tail between his legs and drooping his ears so that he looked smaller, less threatening. It was just like when she was five all over again. If he could convince her that he wouldn't hurt her, he could endear himself more thoroughly to her. He let out a softly plantative whine, looking up at her as he tried to look adorably cute (and succeeded pretty well considering that he was the "big, bad pureblood prince"). The brunette smiled tentatively at him, touching the very top of his head with only the tips of her fingers as if he might snap at her at any moment. "It's okay, Zero," she murmured, trying desperately to convince herself and her adopted brother of what she was telling him. "I mean, it's not as if he's going to be living in my room, right?" She smiled relievedly as she thought up a scenario that pleased her greatly. "You can keep him in the stables with White Lily. I'm sure they'll get along fine!"

Kaien elbowed Toga pointedly, who rolled his eyes at the demanding exhunter. "If you decide you don't want to keep him, I'll take him. But it's your choice, Zero. No one else's."

Zero looked down at the dog for a long moment, conflicted. Wanting to stay near his dear girl, Kaname wagged his tail at the exhuman that any other day he wouldn't have hesitated to rip the head off of and wriggled in his arms like any normal puppy would, as if he desired to continued ministrations of those calloused fingers against his fur. "Can I have some time to think about it?" he asked, biting his lip.

Kaien beamed. "Of course, Zero-rin!" he declared. "We don't want you to feel rushed or anything! He _is_ your pet, after all."

* * *

><p>Kat: It's reassuring to know my gender now.<p>

Takuma: Yeah, well, don't get used to it. I get to name you next chapter!

Kaname: Wait. If Kat gets a new name, that means... OH SHIT.

Zero: *smirks evilly* Well, Dawn _was_ planning on giving you the name Name (pronounced the same as it is in Kaname), but if any of you lovely readers wants to leave a better name for you in a review, she'll consider alternatives.

Takuma: And that goes the same for me with Kat! Mainly because neither of us have any clue what to name her otherwise...

Senri: This is my guest appearance for the chapter, so yay! Anyway, I get to tell you that anything after this is more review-answering and thus not required reading, except for the very end, which is a deleted version of the scene where Kat finds her new owner.

Dawn: *appears out of nowhere* Thank you and goodnight! *disappears again*

Everyone else: ...

Kat: *sing-song voice* Awkward.

* * *

><p>Review-Answering:<p>

**yuki-eevee: **Um, thanks for liking it? I don't know what else to say to that, to be honest...

**Chandinee Richards: **An ok chapter? *frowns* Well, thanks for taking the time out to review, but... if you feel it's that mediocre, why bother? Just kidding, YOUR WORDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION! (I'm not sure what to do with them exactly, but they're in there nonetheless!)

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: ***eyes go huge* GIVE ME BACK MY CHARACTERS! I CAN'T WRITE UNLESS THEY'RE HERE TELLING ME THE STORY! Plus, I really really really NEED Takuma. He's my Prince Charming! (Meanwhile, Takuma looks up with wide eyes and begins sliding chair away from authoress.)

**ElheiM: **Wow, two reviews for two chapters, you don't do anything halfway, do you? *chuckles* But yep, Kaname doesn't realize it's the Headmaster come to rescue him, and he hasn't met Toga Yagari, so he doesn't know that Zero's teacher was there to adopt him. There was one scene I was planning on doing with Takuma and Kat, but I decided against it, so... yeah. I put in the very bottom though! I won't, however, disclose the nature of Kaname's memory loss. Okay, I lied. All of the italics are actually Zero's dreams (the interlude was essentually brought on by the liquor Toga let him drink to celebrate his graduation) and thus never actually happened. I probably will, but again, I don't know his breed (because he doesn't tell me these things, goddammit!). I mean, he could be a chocolate brown husky, but then again, he could also be a mutt. As for Kat's gender, well, you weren't the only one.

**Love332**: I know, right? Personally, I think he needs to masturbate more and stop feeling so guilty over Kaname; it'd clear that whole problem up nicely. Hopefully sleeping with a puppy!Kaname teddybear should cure him of that. Somehow, I doubt it though.

**Hyperion**: Well, yeah, I'm fast now, but give me until the end of the week. Provided I don't get inspired by something else I'm reading or whatever, I should be good, but knowing me, that's not likely. Well, my muses (Kaname, Zero, and Takuma) will co-operate provided they get some lovely sex out of it, and while I appriciate your thoughts on my KanameZero action, I regret that there's not much of it in this chapter (unless you want to picture puppy!Kaname unintentionally moving his tail and paws over Zero's crotch during that last part, in which case, be my guest).

**Redmoon1997: **Thanks for your complement on puppy!Kaname. Everyone seems to love him so much! It makes me so happy! (It was gonna be a cat Zero in the other version, but I kinda fell in love with a later idea of what Takuma does with Kat in a later chapter, so...)

**Procrastinating Writer: **You're welcome, and thanks again for the complement. I hope this story will manage to keep my interest. If I keep getting so many reviews, I don't think it'll be a problem...

* * *

><p>Deleted Scene: The Cat Meets the Vampire<p>

Kat hated this feeling, the feeling of being hunted, more than she had anything else in her life. She hated it because it made her remember the life she had before this one, the one where she was nothing more than a pureblood's plaything. Her body was trembling, both from the adrenaline brought on by the chase and the terror brought on by the memories, and one of her paws was sluggishly leaking blood from a cut she'd obtained by some broken glass on the ground as she'd run by. Her yellow eyes wide, she hid behind the first object she could see, barely escaping the jaws of Grim as he lunged for her and only managing to pull her tail from those pointed teeth by wrapping it around the black "trunk" of her hiding place.

Takuma blinked as he used the flat of his katana blade to hold back the dog, instead gently bending down and picking up the little black cat. "Aw, Senri, look!" he giggled, cuddling the little creature, "isn't she adorable?"

The brunet lazily stared at the cat for a long moment. "You do realize that's a boy, right Takuma?" he asked, speaking from experience. "And don't pick it up, it might have rabies."

Right as the model said that, the young kitten had sunk its teeth into Takuma's hand, not liking the way his grip pulled her fur the wrong way. For a moment, silence reigned in the air, then the blond laughed. "Aw, it's okay, little kitty, you don't have to be scared anymore! I won't hurt you!" he chuckled, happily cuddling her against his chest. Kat's ears clung a little closer to her head as her tail swished once beneath her. This was one weird vampire, that was for certain.


	5. 4: Secrets of the King

Dawn: Okay, I can explain why my chapter's so late. First, my Math final (sorta-kinda) wouldn't let me write afterwards because it was a paper-pencil test. And then, I went to my first ever concert, which I was really late coming back in from and as if that wasn't bad enough, I had to stay at my friend's house since it was so late. Her cats kept me up most of the night, and as if that wasn't enough, I'd left what I had of Animal back at home, so I didn't want to work on it. Then I had to go handle my family, so here I am almost a week later!

Zero: ... So many words...

Dawn: Oh shut up.

Kaname: And I don't think she's done either...

Dawn: Nope! Time for some shameless advertising! Go read some of the stories that I've been proofing for my friends. Their profile is NecroHolic! And as if _that _isn't shameless enough for you, I also have started thinking about the story I wanna do after this one. I don't have much, but I know it's gonna involve elements and have the pairings of AidoKain, KanameZero, and TakumaOC!

Zero: ...

Dawn: Don't say anything, pretty boy, I can still make you the earth spirit!

Takuma: ... ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Four: Secrets of the King<p>

Kaname was faced with a very big dilemma. The sun was rising, leaving the vampire feeling exhausted; however, if he wanted to sleep, he had to choose between the carpeted floor or the bed in which Zero Kiryu, his worst enemy, was currently asleep in. _Sometimes,_ the pureblood thought as he curled up in the center of the room, _I truly begin to wonder exactly who I pissed off in my previous life to deserve _this. He quietly laid his head on his paws, twitching his tail away from his muzzle, and closed his eyes to try to get some sleep. He couldn't very well plan how to gain his Yuki's affections under the guise of one of the creatures she hated most if all he could think about was how tired he was, now could he? Of course, the moment his eyelids slid shut, a loud ringing had him sitting bolt upright, fur on end as he bristled at the threat.

On the other side of the room, Zero's startled movement dumped him on the floor in a tangle of blankets until he managed to knock the alarm clock down from its precarious perch on his bedside table and clamp the ringer still until he located the damn off-switch. That settled, he slowly took his hand from the metal, recoiling slightly when it continued its racket. Finally, the hunter managed to deactivate his old-fashioned alarm clock (a gift from Toga Yagari when the older hunter had heard Kaien Cross had recruited him to keep an eye on the Night Class while simultaneously going to school during the day-and he wonders why Zero curses his name to this very day), alert but exhausted lilac eyes taking in the canine's stiff posture. "Sorry, Kaname," he offered, getting up and striding over to the bathroom, too distracted and groggy to notice he'd used the name of his worst enemy and crush for his cute little puppy, "but if I don't set the damn thing, I don't wake up until Yuki comes in to drag me out by my ears."

Kaname's fur slowly smoothed out at the monotonous sound of running water in the bathroom, getting over his scare as he took advantage of the hunter's absence to commandeer the newly-evacuated bed, pointedly settling down on the pillow that _didn't_ reek of the silveret. His pampered lifestyle may have overcome his pride as far as his sleeping arrangements were concerned, but he'd be damned if he cuddled up to Zero's scent like a lovesick schoolgirl! Curling back up into a ball again, he growled softly at the way the leftover tension in his muscles was soothed away by the lavender smell he'd inadvertently wafted up to himself with his tail. "**Zero Kiryu is your enemy**, he scolded himself, not noticing the way the water had stopped rattling in the pipes. "**His scent should **_**not **_**bring you comfort in any way.**"

The exhuman came out of the bathroom with damp gray hair and most of his Day Class uniform on, one hand doing up the buttons of the black jacket absently as the other firmly shoved the Bloody Rose into a deep pocket. He opened his mouth to order the dog off his bed but instead sighed heavily with a rueful shake of his head. He couldn't state exactly what it was about the dog, but the similarity of his demeanor and that of the missing Kuran was downright uncanny, not to mention that he had the same blend of haughtiness and pride in his gaze as the pureblood. "I must be losing it," he muttered to himself, just in time for the alarm clock to go off again. Before he could think twice about it, smoke rose from the barrel of the vampire gun in his hand and the clock lay on the floor with a hole through its face, exposing several key gears and wires. "... Shit."

* * *

><p>Takuma sighed heavily as threw down his pen, finally finished with all the paperwork he could proxy for the missing pureblood. Stretching his arms out in front before him and catching the sound of a resounding crack from his elbow, he glanced at the ancient dark cedar grandfather clock in the corner of the study, deciphering the time as seven minutes to eight according to the wizened wrought-iron hands. <em>It's time for me to face facts,<em> he admitted to himself as he strode tiredly down the halls of the Moon Dorm back to his room. _If Kaname wanted to be found, he would have been by now; instead, he's still left no indirection as to his whereabouts and the Night Class remains without a proper leader._ He sighed heavily, pausing at the top of the banister as he debated the wisdom of continuing the search for Kaname now, when there was no reason to even suggest the slightest indication of foul play.

_"Takuma-sama," a maid told him, the young fifteen-year-old girl with sea-green eyes who he had befriended a while back over her unfailing ability to locate the reading material he'd ask for before he'd think to get it, a small smile on her face as she held out his white uniform jacket, "your pocket beeped."_

_He chuckled, putting down the pen and reaching out to take the jacket, only for her to throw it at him and cause it to land over his entire face. "Aurora-chan," he pouted, slipping the fabric from over his eyes to see her playing with his cell phone, "why are you so mean to me?"_

_"Because you look adorable when you pout, Takuma-sama." She flipped open his phone, scrolling around a bit before she closed it. "Zero-kun texted you. He needs to talk to you ASAP, so I told him you were in Kaname-sama's study."_

_"Thanks Aurora-chan. I likely wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't gone out to my room. What were you doing in there anyway?"_

_She shrugged. "Senri-sama asked for something, and I was the only one available to bring it to him." She yawned widely, her jaw nearly splitting, and he frowned._

_"You should get some sleep, Aurora-chan. The Moon Dorm won't fall to pieces if you rest for a few hours."_

_She rolled her eyes at him. "I know, I know, but I've got to run to town. There's someone there I need to find." His brow furrowed. The blond was well aware that the redhead could see the future with fairly good accuracy, but he wasn't entirely certain he was okay with one of his few "human" friends, fragile as they were, going to town alone, especially with the only decent pureblood for miles missing. Sensing his confusion, she added, "I don't know exactly who yet, but it isn't Kaname-sama."_

_He sighed heavily, recognizing that he couldn't stop her even if he tried. "Be safe," he muttered, wrapping his jacket around her slender shoulders. The young seer had been the one to tell him Kaname was safe enough where he was, and with luck, she would eventually be able to locate him too. She nodded, opening the door and standing aside to let the silver-haired prefect who was about to knock inside before exiting herself._

_"Who was that, Takuma? I haven't seen her around before."_

_"A human seer named Aurora Tiresias. Kaname took her in as a ward of the Kuran family a few years back when she let him drink her blood while he was injured, but I'm pretty sure that part of their agreement is that she remain on standby should the day ever come that one of the Night Class students should ever be badly injured enough to need blood from a donor. According to legend, her family actually descended from numerous notable magicians and enchanters, including a child born to Circe herself."_

_"Is she any good?" Zero asked, knowing the value of a decent charmsmith from his days as a vampire hunter. His very weapon could have been bespelled by one of her ancestors, after all._

_He shrugged nonchalantly, unaware of the true extent of her powers himself. "Her visions are usually dead-on." He shifted his weight pointedly, changing the subject. "Anyway, you wanted to see me?"_

_"Yes," the silveret stated, looking away as he cleared his throat, the blond waiting patiently for him to elaborate, which he did once he met those stunning green orbs once more. "I'm not allowed to search for Kaname with you anymore, Takuma. If I do, I'm liable to be kicked out of the Association." He averted his gaze, obviously displeased with the decision. "In any other case, I wouldn't care, but I... I can't throw away my only real reason for living, not when Kaname doesn't want anything to do with me."_

A flash of handsome red, the same hue as a pretty new copper penny catching the sunlight, had him turning to see Aurora coming back towards him, offering him back his jacket. He smiled easily at her, taking the white jacket. "Did you find who you were looking for, Aurora-chan?" he asked, curious.

She bit her lip, pulling it from her dull front teeth before they could puncture the soft flesh and draw the blood that could prove irresistible to a vampire. "No," she stated finally, her gaze focused out the window at the bright new day with the pretty mockingbird fluttering among the branches of a tree outside, "I guess my Sight was wrong." Her sea-green orbs tiredly met Takuma's emerald ones, and she bowed softly, recalling herself. "Good day, Takuma-sama, and happy birthday."

"Thank you, Aurora-chan," he replied, but she was already gone, striding down the hallway with a distant look on her face. _Aurora's never been wrong about predictions before,_ he thought to himself. _Something is definitely wrong here._

* * *

><p>Kaname awoke whimpering, his tail tucked close to his body and snarling up a storm to a room empty of all other inhabitants. His wine-red orbs swept around the room, taking in the lack of occupants, and he slowly calmed, the tension in his muscles soothing as he caught the scent of lavender from the blanket that lay beside him, having obviously fallen off with his spasm. He couldn't remember what he had been so terrified of, but he knew it had something to do with his past. "<strong>My name is Kaname Kuran. I am a pureblood vampire. The person I love most is Yuki Cross, and the one I hate most is Zero Kiryu.<strong>" His tail drooped as he thought, unsure what to believe. _I wonder what kind of person I was before all this, _he thought to himself, his gaze turning inwards, _if the one person who has treated me with kindness without expecting anything in return happens to be the one person I'm supposed to hate._

Not really wanting to dwell on the matter, he shelved it for the moment as Zero himself came into the room, looking exhausted. "I fucking hate Yuki sometimes," he muttered to himself, forgetting about Kaname. "I know she means well, but offering her blood to me does _not _do me any favors."

"**You're a vampire?**" he woofed quietly, padding over to the exhuman and nuzzling his hand for attention.

The hunter smiled softly, scooping up the chocolate puppy and cuddling him close to his chest. "Still, that's none of your concern anyway, right?"

"**Hell yes it is,**" the pureblood barked in a grumble, "**To be honest, I don't know who I should be more concerned with, her offering or you refusing**." Seeing that the other was still lost in his thoughts, the dog resisted the urge to roll his eyes and gently nipped at the edge of Zero's jaw to get his attention.

"I guess I really should get around to naming you, huh?" he said, his fingers caressing behind those furry ears. "How about Ren?"

"**No!**" he barked, unwilling to be given _anything_ by the other male.

"Ren it is then," the silveret replied, tightening one of his arms around the dog so that he could open the door. "Now let's go catch some fresh air before class change."

* * *

><p>"Senri?" Takuma asked, seeing the brunet curled up innocently under his blankets. "Senri?" A soft mew had him looking around wildly, his gaze finally settling on a small black cat with a yellow ribbon around its neck sitting quietly on his bed, staring intelligently up at the vampire with its large yellow eyes. "Hello," he murmured softly, reaching out to softly scratch behind its ears, "where did you come from?"<p>

The animal, purring as it was, patted the envelope sitting on his pillow as if it could understand him, closing its eyes as he opened the paper one-handed. _Happy Birthday, Takuma!_ it read in Senri's untidy script. _I'm hoping to be awake when you get in so that I can tell you all this myself, but this here is Kat (so named by Aurora when she came by; it's short for Katsu). I don't know what breed he is or if he's a purebred because I found him on the streets, but I figured you'd rather have a smart alleycat than a purebred who doesn't know right from left. PS- he's likely hungry. Aurora said there should be some tuna in the kitchen for him._

"Are you hungry, Katsu?" he asked, surprised when the cat meowed at him in answer, his tail lifting up in answer as he sprung off the bed and in front of the door, looking over his shoulder at Takuma in an expectant manner. "All right then," he laughed, "I'll get you some food, but stay here, okay?"

Kat yawned in answer, springing back up onto his pillow and settling with a patient air. To his surprise, he came back to see the black cat in the same position, his tail wrapped elegantly around his paws and asleep on the bed. Deciding not to disturb the small creature, he simply climbed underneath the blankets himself after setting the bowl on the bedside table, his face turned towards his new friend.

* * *

><p>Laertes panted as his body fell slack against the chains, finally released from his torture. He raised his head defiantly, turning his face to reveal a single black eye that had swollen shut. "You'll never find them," he ground out weakly. "I'll never betray Kat, not again."<p>

The man hissed at him, raising his hand to strike the defiant tree spirit, but his arm was held back by a slender white-gloved hand. "Let me handle the naiad," a feminine voice purred. "I can break him far more thoroughly than _you_ can."

"Yes, Lady Pureblood," he replied, backing off.

"Leave us," she commanded, lifting the naiad's chin with one hand as the sound of the shutting door echoed loudly in the stone chamber. "My my, Laertes, you have put up quite a fight."

"Every bit of it needed," he replied, fixing her with a steely glare they both knew his body couldn't enforce, "when you intend to hurt my friends."

She laughed. "Your friends? Kaname Kuran is no friend of yours."

"But Kat is."

She paused, pretending to think. "Kat? I don't care about that little furball. She can be free, now that the secret to her changing has been unlocked. No, what I want is the dog."

Her eyes were so hypnotic, her tone so smooth and gentle that the tree spirit couldn't think of why he was fighting her anymore. "Promise you won't hurt Kat?" he asked, hanging his head in defeat.

She let him. "I swear upon the pure vampire blood that flows through my veins that I shall not harm the creature you know as Kat, also called Experiment 426."

"...I don't believe you."

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><p>Dawn: Le gasp~! Laertes isn't as evil as we all thought, Zero killed his alarm clock, and even better, I MADE AN APPEARANCE IN THE STORY!<p>

Kat: And you won't be appearing again, right?

Dawn: *sheepish smile as she backs away slowly*

Zero: Right?

Dawn: *runs off*

Zero and Kat: *chase after her*

Kaname: *sigh* Well, the names in this chapter have meaning and reason for each. My name, Ren, means lotus, but it can also mean love or romance.

Takuma: And Katsu means victory!

Kaname: Looks like there's just review-answering after this...

Takuma: Yeah... Well, anyway, for the next chapter, Kaname's gonna need to be attacked by one of the Night Class, not me of course, while Yuki uses that person as a human shield. Please review so that Dawn knows who to use... That is, if she ever escapes from Zero and Kat.

Kaname: Good night, loyal readers! Until next time!

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><p>Review-Answering:<p>

**fujoshii92: **... Hmmm... I do like the idea of a uke!Kaname... I feel like I should honestly offer Kaname-puppies as rewards, everyone seems to want one...

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji Sempai: **Um, glad to know I make you smile... *is somewhat creeped out*

**Random Anonymous Reviewer: **Thanks for the compliments, and as you can see, life rebelled against me, but I struck back! I'm not giving this one up until the end!

**ShadowsOfPenAndPaper: **I know! Innocent!puppy!Kaname is so cute (and completely squeezable)! However, I'd be careful not to kill him; you might make Zero angry...

**Hyperion: **I know! Kaname is so cute! (However, you might want to give him back, if only so that Zero-chan doesn't hunt you down and murder you to get his puppy back...) As for the fluff, more apologies for this chapter, but the next one SHOULD have some real substance to it. I hope... (if not, the one after that will. I just don't know my length til I get it...)

**mpiedz: **Don't we all?

**joker: **Well, here's your answer so far!

**Heyaaa again lol: ***sweatdrops* I would love to respond to all of that, but I do not have that kind of time... Instead, I'll say that I loved your name (as my friend will testify, I bugged her to death with my debating over whether to use Koro for Kaname...), and I even keep your review on my iPod now to pull out and have a snicker over at Kaname/Zero/Takuma/Senri's expense. And I'm just happy it's as long as it is, to be honest. I write about 500 more words than I do for normal chapters (minus reviews and intermissions). I love sugar! Especially cookie-dough! And as for Zero... *smirks as I had iPod to Kaname*

**Love332: **... Well... I did wanna go with something to annoy Kaname... and related to his name... but I like this compromise! And as for Kat living a good life... well... I wouldn't say that...

**yuki-eevee: **Um, thanks?

**ElheiM: **Kaname's name isn't close to his real one because poor Zero-rin is already reminded of Kaname whenever he sees his cute little puppy! (Plus, I'm planning on blowing Kaname's cover in a few chapters anyway). Yep, Takuma's the only one to notice Zero's love (but not for long... heheheh...) and Yuki being afraid of dogs (and Kaname) only works into my diabolical plans (because we all know the girl's just as whiny as Bella...) As for Takuma and Kat meeting... well... I just put it off because I was lazy. :D

**Treasons: **To be honest, I'd like to see that too, right along with that scene. But sadly, it has no place with my evil plans... though they will be sleeping together soon... *evil smile*


	6. 5: The Change in Faith

Dawn: Hey, here's something interesting for today. Everyone knows I'm a girl, right? Well, I had a test in sex ed a few weeks ago. I got a 95 on the female test... and a 100 on the male. I entirely blame my yaoi lemons fanfictions for that result. I can write yaoi perfectly well, but as for the heterosexual lemons... well... I'm kinda lost. Aw well, just thought the rest of my readers would appreciate the humor of my situation and share a laugh at my expense.

Zero: ... And that story somewhat scares me, you know that, Dawn?

Dawn: *channels inner Invader* Yes.

Kaname: ... Well, anyway, here's another update, just because she got it done early! Don't expect anything for a good few days though. She has some big finals, not to mention she's working on a chapter for something she's doing with a friend.

Kat: Wish her luck! *mutters* She's gonna need it, what with the time she should've spent studying being wasted here on you guys...

Takuma: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight!

Dawn: WARNING- THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR GRAMMAR OR CONTENT, JUST SPELLING. IT WILL BE FIXED BY 5/16 or 5/17, BUT UNTIL THEN, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

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><p>Chapter Five: The Change of Faith<p>

_"Master!" he cried, running towards the dark-haired pureblood who was his lover and wrapped his arms around him. Happily purring with his tail swishing behind him as his golden ears twitched, he nuzzled at the pureblood's neck. "I love you," he whispered, the cat boy pleased with his lover more than anything he'd ever felt in his life._

_"I..." the other man began hesitatingly, resisting the urge to pull the shapeshifter around from behind him, where he was vulnerable, to before him, where he was in danger of being found out. "I love you too, Masaru."_

_The golden-haired boy squealed in happiness, quieting down to a heady purr when the vampire's hand came around to pet between his ears. "Bite me now," he murmured softly, turning his head to the side and pulling his hair back so as to bare his neck to his lover. "I want to be with you forever." The pureblood would not deny his urges, sinking his fangs into the young neko's exposed jugular even as he carried the feline to the bedroom._

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><p><em>Masaru didn't mind the biting loneliness he'd been subjected to since his pureblood lover had left after their night of passion, but he wasn't concerned. The vampire was often gone for extended periods of time conversing with the Senate, so it didn't matter. He didn't bother to keep track of time, merely continued to endlessly wander the halls of his windowless palace, his gilded prison since he'd been captured by the curious pureblood for his strange attributes. His hunger grew within him, but he paid it no mind, confident in his mate not to abandon him. He would put up with the thirst until his love appeared.<em>

_When the pureblood did, however, he threw the newborn Level D against the wall, his eyes burning with hatred. "You are nothing, Masaru," he informed the other male cruelly, unsheathing the hunter's blade from his belt. "Did you know the Hunter's Association didn't hesitate to put you on the Extermination List when I told them you were a Level E?"_

_Tears sprung in Masaru's eyes. "Please," he begged, "don't do this."_

_The Level A merely laughed, the blade flicking up in a streak of silver to embed itself through the edge of a fleshy shoulder, the side of his neck right inside the artery, and deep into the wall behind. "Do yourself a favor," he sneered cruelly, "and expire before the vampire hunters come."_

* * *

><p><em>The next time Masaru's pretty yellow eyes opened, it was to the sight of a repentant silver-haired woman with sorrowful lavender eyes. "Will you be the one to kill me?" Masaru asked brokenly. "I don't want to continue on when my reason for life does not wish for me to."<em>

_She sighed heavily, pulling her gun from her belt. "I never thought the day would come that a Level E would beg for his death," she stated, "but you truely are quite a despicable creature, aren't you?" To his relief, he was never given the chance to answer. The bullet in his brain took that blessed curse from him._

* * *

><p>Katsu whimpered in his sleep, twitching wildly as he awoke next to the soft breathing of the blond vampire noble from earlier. Takuma, he remembered the Level B was called, wrinkling his nose at the memory of the dream. His stomach growled loudly, but since he didn't want the dry tuna sitting on the table, he jumped down to the floor and padded out into the main building filled with sleeping vampires. Part of him wanted to try shifting back to his normal form the way he used to, if only so that he could wrap his arms around himself and feel just a little less lonely. His paws stopped moving over the hardwood floor, his black fur lighting up slightly in the sunlight. He let out a weak whimper as his legs just gave out underneath him in grief. He'd been alone for so long now, he was beginning to forget what it felt like to be loved. His last lover had never felt anything for him, Kaname hadn't cared enough to follow him out of the shelter (where he'd likely been adopted, the adorable fuzzy bastard), and Laertes had betrayed him. Surely it was only a matter of time until Takuma too tired of his company and threw him out like a piece of trash or worse. Katsu wasn't nearly as young as his body seemed to indicate; he'd certainly lived long enough to know his looks weren't nearly special enough to save him from being "put down" if someone didn't want him anymore. Life was cruel, and she hadn't proved this point any more thoroughly to anyone as she had poor Katsu.<p>

* * *

><p>The first thing Kaname did once Zero put him down on the soft loamy ground was run off. It wasn't entirely Zero's fault he did it, really it wasn't, but he just simply <em>had<em> to find Yuki. "Ren!" the hunter cried after him, stumbling over a stray tree root, his hands only just missing Kaname's haunches, but the pureblood had absolutely no intention of responding to any name other than his own that came from the filthy exhuman's lips, and if his real name _did _happen to be spoken, the Kuran prince fully intended on figuring out exactly how his blood tasted. He followed Yuki's smell with a slowly wagging tail, already anticipating making his move on his dear girl to regain her affections again.

* * *

><p>Akatsuki Kain blinked when he saw the little ball of black fur lying outside his door, the animal merely leveling a yellow-eyed glance full of sadness at him when he knelt down to see what it was that was that had stationed itself in the absolute center of the hallway in a patch of sunlight falling from a crack in the curtains. Not wanting to step on the poor thing, it was skinny enough for him to fear that even breathing on it might cause him to break one of those slender ribs poking through its side, he made certain to walk in the other direction. He figured that Takuma would know what to do with the poor creature.<p>

* * *

><p>Yuki smiled easily as Hanabusa Aido came out of the distance, swearing loudly as he untangled the vines wrapped around his forearm. She ran towards him, gently brushing his hands away and doing it herself. "Thank you, Yuki-chan," he murmured softly, his breath huffing in the air before them.<p>

She blushed. "You're welcome, Aido-sempai." Shaking herself, she let go of his wrists, walking a few feet away with her arms crossed self-consciously over her chest. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Aido-sempai? You've never left notes for me in my desk before."

The blond sighed, tipping his head back. "Kaname-sama's missing," he muttered, "and I wanted to know what you've done to push him away."

Yuki blinked, cocking her head. "Wait, Kaname's missing?" she asked, her chocolate eyes filling with tears. "Zero told me he was just handling some business off-campus." Her grip on her elbows tightened considerably, her nails digging into her flesh. "Oh God, do you think Zero could've driven him off?"

Hanabusa laughed darkly, throwing his head back as he ran a hand through his touseled locks. "Driven off Kaname-sama? Not likely. However, it would only take one clumsy shot to kill him, pureblood vampire or not, and we all know how much Kiryu likes playing with his Bloody Rose gun."

"Zero wouldn't shoot Kaname," Yuki stated firmly. "They may not like each other, but he _wouldn't_ shoot Kaname, if only because it would upset me."

"Are you sure of that, Yuki-chan?" he asked her in a low tone, striding forward as she backed up warily, not liking the gleam in his bright-blue eyes, until her back was against a tree with nowhere else to go, his face mere inches from hers. "Kiryu's not nearly as hospitable to vampires as you think he is. There's the layer of self-hatred that you see, but do you know exactly how far his hatred goes, Yuki-chan? Do you?"

She bit her lip, thinking hard, then her chin came up defiantly as she regained faith in her adopted brother. "Zero would never do such a thing! He may hate himself, but he's not suicidal! He wouldn't kill himself simply to eliminate Kaname!" she yelled, conviction shining in her every word.

He blinked, a crimson shine entering his eyes, which he hid in the turning of his face. "Yuki-chan," he muttered in a strange tone, "you're bleeding."

_Shit, I must've broken the skin when I bit my lip earlier!_ she thought, her leg inching back in an attempt to back away further only to hit against the solid bark of the tree behind her back. "Aido-sempai," she whispered, daring to break the silence, the small stream of blood falling from her lip as the movement broke the surface tension of the crimson bead from where it had been slowly swelling on her rosy pink flesh.

Hanabusa wasn't listening though. He was too fixated on the vermilion falling down towards the cotton of Yuki's black collar, where it would be lost amid the dark fabric of her Day Class jacket. Leaning forward, he couldn't help licking up the trail from her chin to the source of the small river, the natural healing balm in his saliva healing the cut far faster than he would have liked. "Yuki-chan," he panted softly, hiding the bright red of his eyes in the crook of her neck, "I'm so thirsty."

"Ai- Aido-sempai," she stuttered, her hands fisted in his white Night Class uniform jacket.

From the bushes, Kaname took a hesitant step forward, quietly whimpering "**Yuki?**"

The girl whirled, her eyes widening in fear as she saw the dull glow of the puppy's wine red eyes. She screamed, cowering behind Hanabusa's back, peeking out from behind him fearfully. "Get rid of it, Aido!" she yelped, and he complied, striding forward and giving poor Kaname a good kick in the ribs.

He yelped, his tail flying between his legs as he ran into the forest with tears falling from his eyes. He whimpered loudly as he sank to his belly, not even caring when his muzzle landed on the cloying leaves on the forest floor. "**Was... was I wrong to think Yuki loved me?**" he questioned himself. "**If she feels that strongly for Hanabusa, why would she want me?**" He shook his head strongly, his muzzle jerking up. "**It doesn't matter now**," he muttered, getting to his feet once more and limping to the stables, where he saw Zero running towards him. The silveret's face was covered in a light sheen of sweat, his eyes alight with worry as he scooped Kaname up in his arms.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" he scolded, tapping the end of Kaname's nose pointedly. "I was so worried about you! I thought you were running away and that I wouldn't find you again because you don't have a collar." He sighed heavily, tightening his arms around Kaname's body and burying his face in that chocolaty soft fur. "That's it, Ren, we are getting you a collar first thing tomorrow. I'd ask the Headmaster to get you one, but I don't trust him not to bring you back one that's not flamboyantly gay, and I don't think Yuki wants anything to do with you, to be honest."

_Maybe, _Kaname thought as he inhaled Zero's soothing lavender scent, _maybe Yuki wasn't the only one I got wrong_.

* * *

><p>"Katsu!" Takuma cried, kneeling down beside his cat and stroking him behind his ears. "Katsu, what's wrong?" The cat meowed softly, rubbing against the vampire's hand. "Did you just want attention?" he asked softly, pulling the little animal into his arms. At the answering mew, he stood up, cradling the black kitten close to his chest. "Silly boy, if you wanted anything, you just had to wake me up! I wouldn't have been mad!" Katsu pawed at his cheek quietly, a question swimming in his eyes as he looked so lonely it made Takuma want to burst into tears and just confide his deepest secret to the poor creature if only to reassure him that he wouldn't leave him. "It's okay, Katsu, you don't have to be alone anymore. As long as you want me nearby, I'll be here."<p>

Katsu had never been held so tenderly before, nor had he smelled the truth clinging so strongly to the scent of another. He was afraid to trust again, but who the hell was he kidding, those emerald eyes held him trapped far more thoroughly than any physical steel and metal had. That was why he rolled over to let the blond pet his belly, so that he could show the vampire he trusted him with his life. Takuma merely chuckled, his slender fingers ruffling the soft fur of his underside as he rummaged through the kitchen looking for some fresh tuna. Now that Katsu seemed much perkier, now seemed as good a time as any to feed his new pet, glad the animal was already on vampire time rather than human, despite having lived all those years among the humans. He figured it was just because cats were mostly nocturnal and left it at that.

* * *

><p>Laertes's head raised up when the door opened once again. He froze in fear, his eyes meeting those of the creature across from him. "You," he breathed, fright shining in his eyes.<p>

"Yes," the male vampire replied, not bothering to take the concealing layer of shadows from his face, "me."

* * *

><p>Dawn: Yay, another chapter down! Now I can get to the real fluff... and Kaname's realization of Zero's feelings!<p>

Zero: ... And with that, I WILL KILL YOU TO PROTECT MY SECRET!

Dawn: How do you plan to do that when you just shouted the truth into the sky?

Zero: ... Shit.

Kat: Why did we have to go looking into my past again?

Takuma: Because it was important. *cuddles*

Dawn: Yeah, well, don't expect any repeats. The only way we're seeing the entirety of THAT flashback will be if you, my faithful little reviewers, request it for an interlude!

Kaname: *yawns* You kept us up late doing this for you, the least you can do for us is to close this out quickly.

Dawn: *pouts* The only thing left is review-answering anyway...

Kaname: ... Good night everybody. *puts head in Zero's lap and falls asleep before he can throw him off*

* * *

><p>Review-answering:<p>

**irmina: **Thanks for the comment, and technically, Zero didn't change Kaname's name because he didn't really know it was Kaname (the first time was a slip of the tongue, intentional on my part but otherwise on his). And trust me, Kaname's gonna realize the truth VERY soon, right along with Zero, and the lady pureblood will reappear soon...

**fujoshii92: **Yep, Kaname's experiencing MEMORY DETIORATION! Mwahaha! Here's your update!

**blackfire1331: **I likely will make them take turns. As much as I love Kaname taking it up the ass, the big bad pureblood has SOME dignity to maintain, right? AND I WILL NOT DISCLOSE ANY MORE OF MY PLOT TO YOU! (Zero: Translation- you managed to land almost dead-on to one of her possible avenues she might be taking soon. Me: NO ONE ASKED YOU, ZERO! *hits him over head with frying pan*)

**Mika: **Thanks for making me feel like an idiot. I didn't know the things worked like that, but no, I don't think Zero's gonna be dominant, at least at first. His daydreams are vividly uke, so he might need some persuasion to top Kaname! However, that chapter with Kaname topping also happened to be one of those vivid daydreams, so anything could happen...

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai: **It's fine, I get creeped out all the time. And yep, Kaname's been steadily losing memory, but it's escalating now... with reason too. *evil smile*

**Hyperion: **Thanks for the wish of good luck. I have an easy exam over the next week, but I'll definately need them for the big FINAL EXAM days the week after that. Smart choice there to give him back. Zero's highly possessive... *he's playing with Kaname puppy happily over to side* Um, thanks for that. I think it's a little easier to write fluffy warm stuff than lemons, mainly because I find it awkward to write lemons at school (hasn't stopped me before though). Here's some more fluff, next chapter should have some rocking sex, and DON'T HUG ME EVER AGAIN! *goes to cower in corner* I don't like hugs...


	7. 6: Lost in the Mysteries

Dawn: I apologize in advance for two things. First off, Minaru in the last chapter was actually meant to be Masaru. The meanings didn't match up (Minaru means "truth" and Masaru "victory"). And secondly, I meant to have more sex in this chapter, but my damn word count caught up to me, so you get the lovely cliffhanger instead!

Kat: Well, that's not what concerns me.

Kaname: Yeah, that would have to be the suicide you almost wrote.

Takuma: WHY WOULD YOU KILL OFF YOU/AURORA-CHAN?

Zero: *whispers* Lucky...

Dawn: *shrugs* It made sense at the time... I also meant to say this a few chapters ago, but thanks for getting me to 25 reviews (and more than any of my previous fics)! *turns and hits Zero* Now do the disclaimer, you little homicidal maniac you!

Kaname: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

Dawn and Zero: *sweatdrop*

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><p>Chapter Six: Lost in the Mysteries<p>

Kaname sat at Zero's side, leaning happily against the hunter's leg as they watched the Night Class pass by, fingers tangled in the shaggy fur of his head. His tail thumped against the ground as those fingers curled to rub behind his ears. He put his head back, eyes silently begging until the silveret bend over and picked the little dog up. Kaname really did like being carried, especially when he could feel Zero's heartbeat resonating through his chest. The sound was slow and certain, perhaps the only settled thing he had right now. His ears pricked up at the sight of the human girl who ran out of the gates wearing a black skirt and a clingy purple polo shirt, her sandals doing little to prevent her from overbalancing as she handed Takuma a beautiful brown hardcover book, bowing slightly. Kaname knew this girl.

Takuma smiled softly at her as he took the book, but she pushed up on her toes to whisper something quietly into his ear, her long red hair forming a curtain strong enough to conceal her words from the pureblood. "Thank you, Aurora-chan," the blond replied, his body angled so as to protect the small messenger bag he'd slung over his shoulder from hitting her by resting it against his legs. "If you could do that for me, I'd be very grateful. Giving Katsu a proper collar would do him good, I think."

She nodded her consent, leaving him at the large mahogany doors and turning to Zero. "Would you like a ride into town?" the redhead asked sweetly, offering her hand to Kaname for him to sniff before she ruffled his ears. "I could use the company."

"Certainly," the Level D agreed. It was not wise to refuse a magic user, after all, even if Aurora _was _merely a seer.

* * *

><p>Kat awoke in a strange place, dark and confusing. "<strong>Takuma?<strong>" he mewed, frightened by the closeness of his surroundings. "**Takuma!**"

* * *

><p>At the sound of the first meow, Toga Yagari paused mid-sentence, his single blue eye skewering the blond Vice President in place from across the room. "Ichijo-kun, is there a reason why your bag is making cat noises?" the hunter asked critically, his tone practically daring the noble to challenge him.<p>

"Um," he said intelligently, rubbing the back of his head with one hand, a sheepish smile on his face. "Well, Yagari-sensei, you see-"

"I got Takuma-kun a kitten for his birthday, Yagari-sensei." Senri spoke up, figuring out that his friend wasn't going to explain things well. "I haven't seen it tonight, so I assume it curled up in the bag where it fell asleep and only now regained consciousness, when it freaked out about being in such strange surroundings."

As if to confirm the model's words, Katsu dislodged the flap, blinking his yellow eyes at the sudden change in lighting. "**Takuma?**" he mewed, cocking his head to the side and snuffling as a single ear fell back over his eye. The brunet gently lifted the cat from the bag and set him down on the desk, only for Katsu's fur to bristle at all the attention, his tail like a bottlebrush. Sensing his unease about being in the spotlight, the vampire ran his fingers through his pet's soft black fur reassuringly.

"Vampires," Toga said, recalling the class's attention. "I do believe that the appearance of Takuma-kun's cat does not change the fact that we are having an ongoing lecture. You can annoy the poor creature later, after the lesson has concluded."

* * *

><p>Zero got out of the fancy luxury car, obviously a designer or a prototype since there wasn't an obvious make or model to be found, Aurora had borrowed from the Night Class's numerous choices, turning to pick Kaname up off the leather upholstery before he sprung down onto the pavement and got a stone wedged in his soft paws. The redhead herself exited the car, twirling the keys around her finger. "What?" she said, snatching them up in a fluid movement. "There <em>is<em> a reason why Kaname put pressure on the Senate to let me get my driving permit early, you know." She shrugged, tossing him the keys, which he barely caught without dropping Kaname. "Anyway, there's something I need to do here in town, so could you do me a favor and get me a cat collar? _Ren_ can pick it out, the _dog _has great taste. Just put it on my account." By the time the silveret recovered from the suddenness of her request, Kaname sympathetically nudging his mouth closed with his muzzle, she was gone, having disappeared seamlessly into the crowd.

"Damn seer," he cursed, stepping into the store to the sound of jingling bells accompanying him, his grip on the canine tightening to prevent Kaname from chasing the other animals, not that the pureblood was so inclined to anyway. He was too busy trying to figure out what Aurora had been trying to tell him earlier. Was she aware he wasn't really a dog? Suddenly, he felt freezing cold metal around his neck, pressed into his fur by fumbling calloused fingers and unintentionally yanking his fur the wrong way, and yelped, squirming out of Zero's arms panickedly. Bristling at the slight threat, he ran off, his nails scritching over the linoleum, even as Zero scrambled after him. "Ren, come back! Bad dog! _Ren!_"

* * *

><p>Aurora pushed open the wood door without any trouble, mainly because she'd used a discharge of magic to invalidate the lock and deadbolt. In the hallway there were blackened stems and vines littering the floor deeply enough to cover the floor in parts. She frowned at the sight, recognizing the flora as casualties of a battle. "Who was it that fought here?" she whispered, leaning against the scorch-marked wall and tapping a finger thoughtfully against the drywall, "And who won?"<p>

* * *

><p>"Five hours of torture and you <em>still <em>haven't broken him? So much for the strength of the Kurans."

The pureblood male growled, running a hand through his hair. "It's not as if you could do any better on our troublesome naiad, Sara dear," he replied, glaring at her through his tousled hair. "He's too damn loyal to Masaru."

"Then forget the cat. I'm sure Kaname himself would be quite the catch."

"No, Sara!" he yelled, eyes flashing in anger. "Kaname may represent a large part of my progress since Masaru, but he doesn't hold _all _the secrets that damn bastard does."

"You want the cat that badly? Then let me drink your blood, Rido, and I'll get you your answers."

* * *

><p>Katsu's tail twitched when Takuma's fingers played with the fur on his ears, but he didn't move his front paws from where they rested on the side of the desk, propping him up so that his yellow eyes could observe the rest of the occupants of the room. He had no desire to relocate his position, not with the blond's warmth underneath his back paws and his tail fur not catching painfully on the pants beneath him, though he <em>did <em>hiss at the ashen-haired female's attempt to pet him. When the female blond with pigtails wriggled a feather over his nose, however, he could stand it no longer. "**Morons!**" he spat, swiping at her and pressing himself back into Takuma's chest, his fur puffing up to make him almost half again as big.

"Stop it, Rima!" the noble chided, emerald eyes focused on his pet. "You're scaring him."

* * *

><p>Kaname's ears lay flat back on his head, his hackles fluffed up as he growled at the various store employees who'd managed to chase him into a corner. To be honest, he couldn't remember exactly what he'd been so scared of in the first place, distracted by all the furious dogs more than twice his size barking and lunging at him and the various people diving to try to catch him again. His tail would've been stiff behind him, except for the fact that his close quarters forced it flat between his legs. He was fully prepared to bite the others when without prior warning, Zero's voice sounded from behind the crowd trapping him. "No, don't hurt Ren! He's just scared, that's all!"<p>

"Sir," one of the helpers said, a girl whose nametag proclaimed her to be Chou, but he interrupted her.

"Look, he's not dangerous, I promise. He just doesn't like being confined." The silveret stood beside her, crouching down as he called quietly, "Isn't that right, Ren? You didn't want the collar, so you ran away, but since you didn't want to stay gone, you didn't leave the store."

"**Zero!**" he barked in reply, running forward and nuzzling his neck happily as those strong arms wrapped more firmly around him. He looked up at the hunter with his biggest eyes, once again trying to look absolutely pathetic. "**Please, Zero, don't give me a collar. It goes against my instincts as a vampire.**"

Chou looked uncomfortable, smoothing her hair back being her ear once more. "Well, sir, if that's the case, I suppose you could always have a microchip inserted in his shoulder."

Kaname shuddered. "No, no microchips," the exhuman soothed. "I'm just going to have to let him see the one I've picked out for him." He showed the dog a elegant white leather collar that was really soft and had a plastic clip instead of the colder, shinier metal alternative that was generally preferred. Kaname had to admit, if he had to pick his own collar, he would have chosen this one, which is why he permitted the other to loosely put the damn thing around his neck. It was lucky for Zero that he didn't try to put a leash on the pureblood, otherwise he likely would have had his hand practically bitten off. "Right, just a cat collar and we'll be done here, Ren."

Kaname trotted at his owner's heels as they reached the aisle, the pureblood sitting down as he critically examined the rows upon rows of various collars for cats. After a long moment, most of which Zero spent fiddling with various gaudy collars (correctly assuming that Aurora was getting it for a member of the Night Class, not herself), Kaname had decided. "**Get this one, Zero,**" he barked, pointing a single paw to a sunshine-yellow collar with small emerald gems, faux if he had to guess, studded throughout the leather.

The hunter blinked, looking down. "Good choice, Ren," he said, pulling the thing from the shelf and going to pay, fortunately for the poor pet shop employees, without further incident.

Aurora was waiting for them outside, leaning against the car with a plastic bag for the bookstore wedged between her and the tire. "About time you came out," she grouched. "Did you get the collar for Takuma's new pet cat?" He nodded, tossing her back her keys. "Excellent. My own chore didn't go so well, but I guess that's what happens when seers like me try to divine the past rather than the future."

Zero paused in the seat, his lavender eyes focusing on the sea-green ones reflected to him in the rearview mirror. "Can you see where Kaname is, Aurora?" he asked.

She was quiet for a long moment, mulling over the question. "All I can say is that he's closer than you'd think, Zero."

* * *

><p>Laertes looked up at the female entering his cell. "Sara Shirabuka," he muttered weakly. "I already told you, I won't tell you where Kaname is. I don't even know myself."<p>

She smirked. "You don't need to," she informed him darkly. "I got a reliable report that a chocolate puppy caused quite a ruckus in a town pet shop when his owner tried to collar him today." She leaned down, her mouth moving inches from his ear. "You know what that means, don't you, naiad? It means that our deal is _void_." In a quick movement, her head twisted, her fangs burying themselves in his neck.

He struggled, but even the brief surge of adrenaline in his system wasn't enough to overcome his weakness. "Kat..." he panted out, "I'm sorry."

She raised her head to see the light had faded from his eyes, that heat was slowly leaving his corpse. "And good riddance to you too, Laertes," she muttered, wiping her mouth with a pristine handkerchief she accepted from her partner. "Cross Academy. Both of them have made it back to Cross, according to Laertes's memories."

"Good work, Sara. I'll send my most loyal servant out there as soon as he can manage the journey without arousing suspicion."

* * *

><p>Takuma sighed, pulling his hand to his mouth so that he could lick at a cut for the seventeenth time that night. "Katsu," he stated, "why won't you just let me put on your damn collar? Aurora-chan picked it out especially for you."<p>

"**Because its fanciness makes it ugly as shit**," Kat meowed at him. "**I liked my yellow ribbon much better.**"

Taking his thumb out of his mouth again, he began moving his hand steadily towards his kitten again, who simply began tensing his muscles in preparation for lashing out once again. "You know, cats are very stubborn creatures. You're only going to get blood all over the room if you keep this up, Takuma."

The blond glared at his sleepy roommate with a slightly exasperated look on his face, which greatly contrasted with his usual smile. "Yeah, well, what do _you_ suggest I do about it, Senri?"

The brunet strode over to Kat, taking the yellow ribbon off the dresser and tying it around his neck again. "Compromise. If he wears the ribbon everywhere else, he only has to wear the collar at official functions and the like." As if in agreement, the kitten purred, rubbing his head against the model's hand.

"All right, all right," Takuma said, raising his hands in surrender, "I know when I'm outnumbered. But I do think it would look adorable on you, Katsu."

"**Oh shut up.**"

* * *

><p><em>Zero cried out as Kaname slowly slipped down his torso, that warmth sliding easily over his bare skin. "No, please," he begged, his lilac eyes shut tightly in pleasure, "Kaname, please, stay."<em>

_A low chuckled sounded from his crotch area, causing him to open his eyes to see the Level A with his face within inches of his erection. "Whatever made you think I was going to leave you?" he replied huskily, his breath huffing enticingly over Zero's cock..._

* * *

><p>Dawn: Okay, I have to tell you right now, the entire idea of Takuma sneaking Kat into class in a backpack was entirely inspired by my Biology class. We have an idiot in there who has realistic animal sounds on his phone. One day, he decided to enlighten us with the cat sounds during a video on sea stars, but he hasn't done it again since the day we had a substitute, during which he gave us all sorts of animal sounds. There was a cat, and a dog, and an elephant... *begins rambling on*<p>

Kaname: We'll never get her back now...

Zero: ... You say that as if it's a bad thing...

Kat: Anyway, there's gonna be some mature stuff next chapter, not to mention that some real shit's going down!

Takuma: Review if you think you know who the last conspirator Rido was talking about! Hint: he's already shown up in a previous chapter.

Zero: Well, since there's only review-answering left, I guess there's nothing left to say...

Takuma: Until next update, readers!

* * *

><p>Review-answering:<p>

**irmina: **Yep, that was a dream/flashback into Katsu's life before he became a cat. And we all agree, poor Kaname, but he needed _something_ to convince him Zero was his love. And trust me, Zero's gonna find out soon.

**fujoshii92:** *slowly steals out of room in hopes that I will not be killed*

**blackfire1331:** Well, um, thanks for that... I think. But yeah, why write if you have to censor everything, right?

**Hyperion: **Thanks, it's just coming easily right now. (And we all know Kaname being adorable is absolutely a wonderful way to die!) Thanks for the wishes, and the idea of how to creep out the guy I always creep out in Biology on the last day of school... *evil smile*

**ElheiM:** Yeah, Zero's alarm clock did not deserve its fate... But give Kaname time, he's gonna come around. Aurora/me is important (aren't I always?) and as for Sara, there's your answer. And I don't know how it works exactly... and it's a little scary... but yeah, Laertes knows where they are (he's either been creeping on them in the shelter or using some scary magic stalking), as I just proved. Yep, Katsu is Minaru/Masaru. My next chapter might be Katsu's past, but it might not. I do know it'll be my next interlude though! Thanks for the wish of luck (I think), and I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations!

**mpiedz: **Yep, Zero doesn't speak dog, so Kaname has to suffer... *evil laugh*

**ShadowFax100: **Thanks for the compliment!


	8. I: Loss of Victory

Dawn: Do you guys have any idea how much your reviews mean to me? I don't wanna rant on this, not with the new interlude on the day with my 50th review, but I kinda have to explain how much it means to me. You see, seeing all those reviews made me feel so much better today, which was kinda crappy. What happened was that some asshole in my first period class thought it would be hilarious to zip-tie my bookbag to my chair, so because it was a sub there, I had to go to my next period class to get scissors so that I could free my bag, and I couldn't even unleash Zero and Kaname on them because I didn't know who did it. Yeah, the reviews really helped me feel better, so THANKS SO MUCH!

Takuma: And now for something serious, aka Katsu's past!

Zero: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

Kaname: *is currently examining green zip-tie critically* And next chapter will be a real chapter, so... enjoy!

* * *

><p>Interlude: Loss of Victory<p>

My entire life has always been one overarching struggle, my fight to survive. We shapeshifters know nothing else, even I, who possess a gift beyond any other. Cat shapeshifters do not age, but they are given nine lives. Nine lives to live, nine lives to die, but for most, these lives are naught but suffering. Take me for example. My first life began long ago in what I suspect was ancient Greece. I don't know for certain because it's been so long, and time wasn't exactly kept accurately back then, even for those of us who lived it. Back then, my hair was white, but I still spent much of my time fighting to be noticed. My siblings were self-sufficient, and my father absent from my life. Was it really so much of a stretch to imagine that when my mother tried to leave, I got shakily to my feet and followed her? For her, it was, so she killed me.

My second life was spent as a priest of Apollo, one of my siblings, with hair the absolute lightest shade of yellow possible, one that was practically white. I grew up at the temple at Delphei, an atheist hiding among true believers, for I found myself unable to believe in a deity when said deity was actually blood-related to me, but I digress. I lived a fine life, full of work that let me sleep soundly at night, though I did not know how limited it was until I met a handsome she-cat Huntress of Artemis. It was love at first sight for us, and that was the reason for my second death. My sister was not fond of lovers.

My third life was the first I spent in prolonged contact with a vampire, my hair this time a pale gold. My friend, a great pureblood prince named Kaname Kuran, graciously showed me the wonders of the world, and in return, I showed him how a shapeshifter's powers work. He never did master how to hold the form of anything but a dark-furred wolf, but since my own form at the time was a sandy lion (I'd given up my fourth life to teach Kaname such tricks), neither of us saw a fit reason to complain. When society went to hell and back, I gave my third life to defend my friend's coffin from overzealous vampire hunters. I never expected anything to change like it did. Since Kaname held my fourth life, I could not be reborn into my fifth until he awoke again.

When my eyes opened again, my hair a sunshine gold, the first person to help me up was a pureblood vampire with heterochromous eyes. At first, I thought him Kaname; that is, until he spoke. "Kaname was dead," he told me, "and I am his descendant, Rido." There were a handful of reasons why I trusted Rido, forefront among them being the sheer amount of blood spattered throughout the catacomb holding my friend's coffin, the lid of which lay cracked at to the side, prevented from lying flat against the cool marble by a dead body, its identity lost to the crimson dye covering it.

Rido was safe. Rido was sanctuary. After the thousands of years I'd spent being ignored, his steady presence and attention was exactly what I needed. I darnk in his soft words, his kind gestures hungrily, slowly forgetting the just vampire prince I had known. I tried to please him with every fiber of my being, to ignore whatever pangs I might feel myself in order to maintain my place in his heart.

I entered my sixth life because of and for Rido. As if he sensed the immense lonliness pouding through my veins whenever he left on business, despite my attempts to conceal it from him, he announced that we would be recieving a young girl named Yuki, his niece, to be my companion. I was eccsatic, eagerly preparing for their arrival. When the first snowstorm of that winter came and he still had not returned, I bundled myself up and braved the white wilderness for him. The cost of retrieving Rido that night was losing my fifth life to a handsome young boy with wine red eyes and a hunter's blade he left buried in my chest. When I recovered myself, I gave up my seventh life in order to teach Rido how to bind his awareness to bodies other than his own and those willing to open themselves up to him. He claimed I was selfish for refusing to share my body with him, my master, any longer. I didn't disagree.

My sixth life I spent trying to woo Rido. The very instant I'd opened my eyes, I'd told him I loved him. He'd hit me, telling me that it was wrong for two males to love each other, that he could never love me back. When I replied that I didn't care, I still loved him, and that it was okay if he didn't reciprocate my feelings, he called me a slut and proceeded to take my virginity. Thus began my relationship with the devil. I'd tell him I loved him as soon as he got back to the "mansion" we stayed in, he'd have sex with me, and then drink my blood through wounds he'd make with his claws while I was asleep.

I thought my life would be better once he bit me, changing me into a vampire, a Level D since I'd not been born to this life. However, deprived of Rido's blood and a reason to stay sane in my solitary home, I quickly deteriorated into a spell of blood; I wouldn't be surprised if the account Rido gave the Hunter's Association of me actually being a Level E turned out to be true. Either way, my dreams shattered when Rido used the hunter's blade that the little Kuran bastard stuck in my chest a lifetime ago to kill me in my sixth life. The fact the vampire hunter, one of the legendary Kiryus, took my eighth life was simply an added bonus.

The pain I felt was not something I wanted to feel. So when I entered my last life, my hair jet-black now, I found myself unable to transform. My body wanted to cope with the metaphorical ache in my chest, one my feline form was immune to. I guess if I'm being honest, I'll add that I never did _try_ to transform back. I'm too much of a coward to try. Experiments were nothing, surjuries painless when all I wanted to think about was how to die. I blanked out all my memories, pretended that I didn't have a past. If _I_ didn't admit the truth, it didn't exist. I wasn't Masaru anymore. I wasn't victorious. I wasn't anything.

Would you remain by my side if you knew the truth about me, Takuma? Would you still love me if you knew I"m a coward? If I dared to change back to a humanoid form, would you give me a chance to deserve you?

* * *

><p>Dawn: Well, the good news is that next chapter will be a continuation for sure. The bad news is it won't be out for a little while now that most of my free-writing time is shorter, aka I don't have my faux finals to deal with anymore. But I should have it out soon! Updates'll be quicker with my half-days due to finals next week, then I'll be homefree (almost)!<p>

Zero: Just shut up now. Please.

Dawn: *pout* You're so mean, Zero-chan...

Kaname: Please review. It'd be interesting to see what you think of Katsu's past!

Takuma: Well, since the rest of this is all review-answering, GOOD DAY!

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji Sempai: **Well, glad to know you are!

**blackfire1331: **It's reassuring to know my mental problems make it nigh impossible for people to follow my train of thought... Okay, seriously though, things are gonna be happening soon, so I'd stay tuned! The hilarity of some of my plans IS NOT TO BE MISSED!

**irmina: **I personally intended for Kaname to set the store on fire, but that would disobey the laws of physics, something I swore I wouldn't do unless I could justify it (so of course the collar's sticking around!). And as for what's gonna happen, well, you've just gotta hang in there!

**mpiedz: **Yep, Zero's getting smarter about his dog... and Kaname's getting lazier by the day... (Kaname would likely kill me for that...)

**ElheiM: **Damn you for getting me thinking about Kaname's kinky sexiness! But yep, I laughed at that whole sequence. Takuma's learning about his kitty, but Rima does have all those ribbons, I should've had her use those to tease Katsu with instead. And I can't reveal too much, but Aurora/me is/am quite good at these kind of things, including figuring out that the "battle" was actually Laertes's home post-kidnapping. And I just got bored of the naiad, so I killed him. *shrugs* AND I WON'T REVEAL WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT CHAPTER EVEN IF YOU BRIBED ME, SO JUST SETTLE IN AND WAIT!


	9. 7: The Guilt in These Hearts

Dawn: Well, like I said earlier, this chapter contains mature content not meant for those who are not prepared to handle its maturity. In short, there is slight beastiality (sex with animals), folks! If you don't like, go look for the underlined word to start reading, because I will NOT be taking complaints about doing such horrible things to you.

Kat: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight!

* * *

><p>Previously, in Animal...<p>

_Zero cried out as Kaname slowly slipped down his torso, that warmth sliding easily over his bare skin. "No, please," he begged, his lilac eyes shut tightly in pleasure, "Kaname, please, stay."_

_A low chuckled sounded from his crotch area, causing him to open his eyes to see the Level A with his face within inches of his erection. "Whatever made you think I was going to leave you?" he replied huskily, his breath huffing enticingly over Zero's cock._

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven: The Guilt in These Hearts<p>

Kaname liked the safe, secure warmth he found in Zero's bed with the hunter's arms wrapped around him. The blankets had been easy to squirm underneath, leaving the scent of lavender to fall over him and the steady heartbeat to lull him to the shores of sleep. However, the increase in heartbeat rhythms and the slight change in scent was what woke the pureblood. He raised his head, pupils dominating his eyes to absorb as much in the dim surroundings as possible. "**Zero?**" he asked confusedly, pushing himself up to a sitting position to better observe the hunter, the white sheet sliding down his chocolate fur to pool around him. The silveret groaned, his hair shifting across the pillow. "**Zero!**" He darted out from the exhuman's embrace, snarling softly as he sharply flicked his tail to extract it from the sheets, but froze when he caught the scent emitting from the Level D. "**Mating pheromones?**" he yelped, "**But there's no one here to mate **_**with**_**!**" Whimpering at his helplessness, especially once tears began to collect at the corners of Zero's eyes, he rested a forepaw against Zero's chest to get the height he needed to be able to lick the salty liquid away.

* * *

><p><em>"Then again," Kaname stated huskily, his breath gliding over Zero's erection, "why should I reward you for abandoning <em>me, _Kiryu?"_

_"No, Kaname, please," Zero begged, "I didn't want to abandon you! I _love _you!"_

_The brunet's chin rose proudly, his eyes locking on those of the hunter. "You have yet to prove it to me, Kiryu."_

_The silveret tilted his head to the side, exposing the pale side of his neck, the one devoid of the dark blank ink of suppression tattoo. "Drink from me, Kaname," he said, tears falling from his eyes. "Find your proof in my blood."_

* * *

><p>Kaname had never imaged Zero could taste so <em>good<em>. Greedily, his tongue followed the track of bare skin to the hunter's neck, lapping at the juncture of his shoulder and jugular hungrily. "**My name is Kaname Kuran,**" the Level A panted, "**I'm a pureblood vampire, and the person I want to bite the most is Zero Kiryu.**" As his tongue began traveling to the roof of his mouth again, he yelped in pain, skittering back along Zero's torso. He could taste his own blood, the plain copper taste mixing with his own personal taste of jasmine and the Kuran taste of a rose garden's overpowering stench. _Fangs?_ he wondered, testing the pointed tip of his left canine with his tongue, _but how?_

* * *

><p><em>Zero had been fully expecting to feel the bite of fangs within moments of the pureblood's mouth coming in contact with his throat, but instead, the steady movement of wet warmth was somewhat soothing in its nature, even though he knew very well that the licking was merely to dull the pain of the inevitable scrape of fangs to open his skin. "Go ahead, Kaname," he murmured, relaxing further into the bed. "It's all right. Just do it."<em>

_"Why should I?" the brunet asked, having shifted farther back down, perched between the silveret's legs once more, "after all, punishment can be administered in many ways, Zero." The hunter's eyes widened, his hips bucking wildly as Kaname's mouth consumed him entirely._

* * *

><p>Kaname was careful not to scratch Zero with his teeth, fangs or otherwise, when he took the hunter in his mouth, surprised the shape of his muzzle actually aided more than hindered his efforts. If he had been humanoid, or a vampire to be more precise, he would have had a painful problem of his own to deal with, but for once, the canine body proved extremely useful with its inability to get an erection. His tongue started moving as Zero's fingers fisted in his fur, forcing his penis deeper into Kaname's mouth.<p>

* * *

><p><em>Zero couldn't believe oral sex would feel quite so damn breathtakingly ethereal, his fingers tangling in the brunet's hair without thought on his part. "Ngh, Kaname," he groaned, moaning wantonly when that talented tongue began moving over his manhood. He was so close, and yet at the same time, he couldn't help but think something was wrong. Kaname's hair was too coarse, more like fur than anything, and he was convinced that tongue was too rough for a human's or a vampire's after one particularly erotic swipe from tip to base with a skillful twirl along the underside. But there was nothing to do about it now, not when he threw his head back and ejaculated with a muffled cry of the pureblood's name.<em>

* * *

><p><span>Kaname<span> still felt dirty, even after he'd swallowed the hunter's salty cum and licked his muzzle spotless. Pawing at his snout a couple more times, he agilely leapt out of Zero's bed, the Level D much calmer now that he'd orgasmed, and trotted to the door, opening it by rearing up against the wall alongside and using the bottom of his jaw to weigh down the handle. On the other side of the hall stood Aurora, her position against the wall opposite making it clear she had been waiting for him to emerge. "Hello Kaname," she said, brushing nonexistent dirt from her white maid's apron. "I take it you would like a bath and an explanation of what just happened here with Zero?"

"**Yes please,**" the pureblood replied, well aware that the sorceress could understand him with a spell he'd watched her cast before, "**in that order to be precise**."

* * *

><p>Katsu spared Takuma one long glance before he exited the bedroom through the cracked door to the main room. Leaping up onto the plush couch in the foyer, he turned on the laptop hidden within the pile of cushions using one deft paw, patiently waiting for the desktop to appear. As much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn't be able to protect Takuma from his past without help. His tail twitched once as the computer loaded his email account, one that he'd obtained on the sly during one of Rido's extended absences. Slowly, he painstakingly pressed each letter with his paw to compose a message to the one person who might be able to help him. <em>I'm calling in my favor,<em> he typed, not even twitching a whisker as he pressed the send button, _Kill your fiancee_.

* * *

><p>Aurora's quarters in the Moon Dorm were smaller and simpler than what Kaname was used to, but with the darker colors, blacks and purples, along with her various posters for fantasysci-fi type media, they were certainly _hers_. She let him sit up on her bed, the seer pulling a cherry-wood chair from her desk for herself, seating herself so that her legs curled around the back of the chair and her chin rested on her hands, which were folded across the wooden slats of the top. "Feeling better?" she asked him.

"**Much,**" he replied, tail wagging slightly in self-satisfaction. "Thank you. The jets in your shower are quite useful. How did you know to acquire them?"

She shrugged. "The same way I know when to lace your drink with vervain." He would have blushed if it were physically possible for him to; only Aurora knew that he would sometimes ask her to put the vampire-sedative in his drinks every now and again when the urge to drink blood was at its height, if his powers were getting particularly frisky, or if his control was wavering questionably. She pulled a few escaped strands of her red hair behind her ear again. "Now, about your predicament with Zero," she began, then paused, thinking about how to best word what she wanted to tell him.

* * *

><p>Takuma awoke when Katsu returned to bed, the small cat merely curling up against his chest as if nothing had happened. Hesitantly, remembering how the cat had hissed at Ruka and the others when they had tried to pet the little cat before, he ran his fingers down Kat's spine, blinking in surprise when the cat purred lazily at him, arching his back up into the caress pointedly. Those yellow eyes closed in contentment. "<strong>I trust you,<strong>" he told the vampire. "**You won't hurt me.**"

* * *

><p>Aurora sighed, averting her sea-green eyes. "I guess I should start at the beginning," she muttered. "Kaname, I've been seeing this outcome for months now."<p>

The pureblood's jaw dropped. "**Months? Why didn't you tell me, Aurora?**" he yelped.

"There were two reasons. The first is because it doesn't just concern you. Takuma will find out about his soulmate, as will I myself. Numerous questions will be answered, a good mystery solved, and enemies defeated. And the second reason I didn't tell you, Kaname, is because if I did inform you of your future, it wouldn't have come to pass." She smiled grimly. "Even now, I have to keep some things from you, if only to prevent you from stopping them from coming to pass."

"**Damn seer,**" he muttered under his breath. "**Why does the future matter so much anyway? If it's destined to happen, it will, regardless of what you or I do to change it.**"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as the temperature around them dropped several degrees, matching her icy tone. "Kaname, do you know the story of Odysseus?" she said.

He nodded. "**I'm familiar with **_**The Odyssey **_**and _T_**_**he Iliad**_**,**" he replied.

"The Trojan War began because of someone interfering with a witch's soulmate, an idiot cat shapeshifter who thought herself above the magic of a coven of angry magicians. And then Odysseus's journeys were entirely the result of him and his crew ignoring the prophecies of seers and trying to change their destinies. Only one survived, Odysseus himself, and that was because he was the lover of Circe, my ancestor."

He shuddered. He wasn't sure where fact and fiction met in the myths mentioned, but he was certain that he didn't really want to find out either at this point. "**Point taken**."

"Anyway, what happened was your defense mechanism reacting to Zero's threat. He was searching for a mate, you, and even though you're in a form unable to properly respond to his call, your body still answered his pheromones as best it could by changing you back a little ways into your old self."

"**So what does that mean, Aurora?**" he asked, his head cocking to the side instinctively.

"Well, I'm not certain on all this shapeshifting business, a witch hasn't been able to change forms since Arthurian times, when the magic was so much stronger in our blood than it is now, but I suspect that if you, or maybe even someone you held dear like Zero, was in danger, you would adopt your normal form. Like I said, I'm not sure, Circe was the only enchantress who knew the exacts of the science behind shapeshifting, but I'm certain that if you found a true shapeshifter, they'd be able to confirm my theory."

Kaname had to ask. "**And where's the nearest one?**"

"For sure? They're rather common in Greece, Italy, Egypt, and the Middle East, particularly around holy sites. That's mainly because ancient religions thought of them as gods, so those beliefs carried over somewhat into the modern age. Most of them remain in isolated communities of their own making or in places where the locals still fear their presence since they're still able to sense there's something otherworldly about them. By that logic, there should be a good few in Japan, but according to records, apparently the vampires murdered the Japanese ones years ago after a prominent vampire pureblood appeared to be murdered by one of their kind." She patted his head reassuringly when it lowered, his tail drooping behind him with his unhappiness. "Don't fret. Someone couldn't have figured out how to turn you into a puppy without basing the transformation off something and having numerous unsuccessful predecessors. In fact, it's highly unlikely he or she could have done it without using a shapeshifter as a model for his research."

"**So there is hope then?**" His voice was bitter, filled with anger and disappointment. "**Just because we know that there has to be a honest-to-God shapeshifter in this fucking town, I'm supposed to be happy? Hell no! You can't see anything, dammit! And what you can see, you can't tell me!**"

"Kaname," she tried, but he twisted lithely out of her reach, snarling and bristling all the while, his muzzle twisting as he bared his teeth at her, the slightest tips of his fangs showing.

"**Don't touch me!**"

Her hand dropped to her side. "I know it's hard for you to believe, Kaname, but one day you'll realize I've always had your best interests at heart," she told him as she let him walk out of her room. _I even chose you over my own soulmate, Kaname; I could have found him years ago, but because this future was still an option, I let the chances fall until the very last one, all for you, Kaname._

* * *

><p>Zero splashed water on his face, looking at his pale face in the mirror and turning away in disgust of the deepness of how his eyes had sunken in with grief. He hadn't dreamed of Kaname in so long, but what he had done last night, oh it undid everything he'd pushed to the back of his mind since he'd become a hunter. "Dammit!" he ground out, his fist flashing out to shatter his mirror as he sunk to the ground.<p>

* * *

><p>The beep of his computer caught his attention. He leaned forward, reading the message thoughtfully before he slammed the top of the laptop shut. "It looks like it's about time I paid Cross Academy a visit," he murmured softly, shaking his head. "It seems I have an errand to complete that's <em>long<em> overdue."

* * *

><p>A door to a limousine opened slowly, a handsome male stepping out of it with a black cloak swirling around him with the draft brought by a wayward wind. He smirked as he surveyed the seemingly-innocent building before him, an elegant structure that was destined to be his next battleground.<p>

* * *

><p>Dawn: And would you guys believe that the smell of formaldehyde made me almost barf five times today? Ah, the joys of the frog dissection in Biology...<p>

Zero: *comes in with Kaname and Takuma* Wait, what the hell is all this?

Dawn: *sidles away* Um, it's not the new chapter I was gonna post while you three were out?

Takuma: Oh. Okay then!

Kaname: That was sarcasm, Takuma.

Takuma: Oh.

Zero: Why you little- *attempts to strangle authoress*

Dawn: Rape, rape!

Kaname: *eyes wide* I didn't know you swung that way, Zero. I'm hurt that you would cheat on me with HER. *runs off*

Zero: Kaname! *runs after him*

Takuma: That was mean, Dawn.

Dawn: *shrugs* But hilarious. Anyway, review to guess who each male is!

Takuma: *walks off*

Dawn: ... Guess I should get to the review-answering now...

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**irmina: **Yep, Masaru is really Katsu... and involved with the original Kaname and sexually so with Rido. And no one would kill puppy!Kaname, he's too adorable to be killed (even if he did burn down a store...)!

**Hyperion: **Don't fret, they're fast postings (I'm rushing to get a lot up before I go on hiatus somewhat soon-ish), but thankfully, we all know Katsu's due for some love, he's with Takuma now!

**blackfire1331: **Well, that's depressing... *walks off depressedly*

**OneStop: **Thanks! I'm hoping to make Kat have a happy ending, but who knows what goes on in my head... certainly not me!

**ElheiM: **I'm glad you agree, Katsu does deserve some goodness in his life. But I mean, Kaname's not a natural shapeshifter, so the fact he learned the wolf (which then translates to dog) is pretty impressive. Yeah, it was the whole awakening scene, so the dead body was actually boy-Kaname's (IDK about it, I never read that far...) and Rido was there to find Katsu. And I do feel sorry for all the time he spent with Rido, regardless of how much shorter his lives were...


	10. 8: Deception of the Usurper

Dawn: Well, for those of you who I may or may not have scarred for life with my last chapter, I'm sorry for writing such things... I honestly didn't plan on having puppy!Kaname have oral sex with Zero until I actually started writing it.

Zero: Wait, he had oral sex with me as a DOG?

Kaname: You didn't tell him?

Dawn: *sweatdrop*

Zero and Kaname: DAWN!

Dawn: Gotta go! *runs off*

Takuma: They'll get tired of this in a few minutes...

Kat: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight!

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight: Deception of the Usurper<p>

Zero heard the whimpering and scratching at the bathroom door, but he couldn't find the energy he needed to open the door for Ren. He shifted his back against the door, the handle jingling in the lock.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the white-painted wood, Kaname sat down, withholding the whine in his chest as his tail thumped thoughtfully against the ground. Zero was hurting, he could smell the scent of suffering even through the door, and he wanted to help the hunter. Of course, he definitely didn't have the weight to push past the door, so he'd have to find someone human, hopefully someone who could understand him. He didn't want to crawl back to Aurora so soon, his pride didn't want him to even if it _was_ for Zero, but that left him with scant few options. He couldn't ask Yuki, he didn't really want to be kicked again, and the Headmaster, while he meant well, wasn't exactly Zero's favorite person. He supposed Toga Yagari might have been able to help him, but the older hunter was off on an assignment. Maybe someone from the Night Class would be able to get through to the stubborn silveret; it was worth a try anyway.

* * *

><p>Katsu perched on the windowsill of the hallway outside the room shared by Rima Toya and Ruka Souen, his claws biting into the wood as his yellow eyes glared at the vampire walking past the Moon Dorm gates. His tail lashed as he sprung down, stalking to the main foyer. "<strong>Fuck it all!<strong>" he hissed, claws scraping across the laminate and creating long scratches in the floor.

"**Kat?**"

All the anger left the kitten's system at the sound of that voice. "**Kaname?**" he mewed, his startled yellow eyes meeting the wine-red orbs of the pureblood. "**What are you doing here? I thought you stayed at the shelter, or worse, that you were dead!**"

"**Zero adopted me, so I ended up at Cross Academy. He's locked himself in his bathroom, and I was hoping someone here would be able to talk him out.**"

"**Ah**," the kitten replied, sitting himself down on the floor now. "**Zero's having problems, and you think it's your job to comfort him. I remember Zero Kiryu,**" he stated, his tongue running along the black fur of a paw. "**Takuma said that he counts the hunter as a friend but isn't sure where he himself stands among Zero's own circle of friends, what with his extreme dislike of vampires. Don't worry though, I'll send someone to help him out. In the meantime, however, there's something I need you to do for me.**"

* * *

><p>Aurora sighed heavily, her fingers tapping staccato against her desk. She'd left her laptop in the cushions like she'd foreseen she was supposed to, but with so many pieces coming into play now, she didn't like how easily her Sight had become muddled and confused. That was why she had drawn a healing circle with chalk and burned sage, to protect herself and try to exorcise the stress clouding her magic. True, her spells <em>were<em> working much better now, coming easier, but with the sparks dancing along her phalanges at the slightest fluctuation in her power or mood, she was getting worried. She lit the five candles with her lighter, settling down on the floor with eyes closed to let the magic flow through her. She didn't know exactly how long she sat there, a leaf letting the river take it where it may, but when she opened her eyes to a room covered in blood, she screamed. The candles instantly snuffed out in a sucking draft around her feet, causing her long black skirt to billow around her. Before her eyes, a clear message spelled itself out in the still-dripped liquid, the rest of the crimson flash-drying into a dark brownish gunk. _Water water every where, _the letters read_, nor any drop to drink._

* * *

><p>The little black kitten sitting formally in front of the abandoned Moon Dorm was certainly unexpected but by no means unwelcome. The girl bent down and picked him up, carrying him into the building. "Hello Masaru," she said, letting him step daintily out of her arms and onto the spotted marble countertop. He meowed at her, his tail wrapping elegantly around his hindquarters, and she frowned. "Come now, Masaru, there's no need to stand on formalities."<p>

"This better, Shizuka?" Moon pale skin over jet-black hair hid his modesty, a line of yellow ribbon around a slender neck matching perfectly with shining yellow eyes.

Her eyes flickered over his figure appreciatively. "Much, Masaru."

His fingers, which were splayed against his cheek and neck, slid down to the ribbon, tapping it as he activated some kind of innate magic. "Nice try, Shizuka, but I'm not stupid." He shifted, the golden fabric of his kimono rustling and ruffling with his movement. "Anyway, I came here on business, Shizuka, or would you prefer I call you Maria?"

She waved away his question. "Do tell, Masaru. Your propositions have always been... interesting to say the least and for lack of a better word."

* * *

><p>As the ones in the room closest to the servants' quarters, Akatsuki Kain and Hanabusa Aido were the first two on the scene of the upcry, but both recoiled violently when Hanabusa opened the door, the stench of blood turning their eyes bright red even as the taller pulled the redhead out into the hallway. Takuma skidded around the corner, having recognized the scream as Aurora's even as she trembled against the two blonds. "What happened here?" he demanded, then he caught sight of the disaster zone. "Oh. My. God."<p>

Hanabusa frowned, leaning in to sniff the crook of her neck then away for the room. "I can't be certain because of all the adrenaline in your blood, Aurora-chan," he said, his blue eyes narrowed in suspicion, "but that doesn't smell like your blood in there." At the three questioning glances, he elaborated. "She has a natural horse-like smell about her, likely an ancestral hangover, and then her own personal scent of rosemary with a hint of hemp. If we exclude the hemp as something she likely picked up from you, Takuma, the blood in her room can easily be ruled out as hers since it reeks of roses and rosemary with a strong aftersmell of hemp, which doesn't seem similar enough to hers to call them one and the same, but then again, the adrenaline could be screwing with her scent."

"What I'm more concerned about," Akatsuki stated, "is the message. It's clearly a threat to her. Blood doesn't dry like that."

"I'll take care of it," Takuma said tiredly. "Thank you, Hanabusa, Akatsuki." He put his hand on his forehead, his fingers rubbing over the flesh. Once the two had turned the corner and were out of earshot, his emerald eyes opened once more. "What did you, Aurora?"

"Nothing!" she vehemently replied.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Aurora, your room looks and smells like an accurate recreation of a massacre. Would you like to revise that statement?"

"I didn't do this, Takuma. Look into my eyes and tell me I'm lying."

He sighed heavily. "I believe you, Aurora-chan. I'm just worried about everyone else who won't."

* * *

><p>"Zero, can I come in?"<p>

The hunter gave pause to that voice, his hand automatically reaching for the doorknob. "Ichiru?" he breathed in surprise. "I thought you were dead."

"I've been in the company of the dead more often than I have the living. Does that count?" Zero couldn't help chuckling dryly in spite of himself at the statement. "I'll take that as a no. May I come in?" Slowly, his hand pushed down on the handle, letting his younger twin into the bathroom, where he promptly sat down on the edge of his bathtub. He couldn't stop himself from greedily drinking in the sight of his twin, taking in the elegant clothes adorning his slender frame, including a white mask that hung from a ribbon he'd pulled down around his neck, and the general glow of health emitting from him. Lavender eyes met their counterparts, twinkling in amusement. "I take it you had a rough night," Ichiru stated, gesturing to the broken mirror with one hand.

"More like a rough several weeks," he replied, shifting to a slightly more comfortable position on the tile floor. "Tell me, Ichiru, why did you betray your own family? We loved you. Why did you side with Shizuka Hiou, a pureblood vampire, over us, your own flesh and blood?"

Ichiru sighed. "I'd like to say I did it because I hated you and my parents, and I guess in a way, I did, at first. But that's not why I did it." His eyes moved to the hands he had clasped in his lap, watching the play of skin over finely-tuned muscles. "I could say that Shizuka was the first person who truly understood what it was like to be loved so much that you were placed in a gilded cage for your own safety, or that I resented you and our parents for treating me like I was breakable. I could even say that I didn't want to be one of the great Kiryu hunters anymore, so when the chance came to break away from the legacy, to just be Ichiru instead of a son of Kiryu, I took it. But I would all be lying if I said any of that. I'm sure that, at the time, those thoughts were floating through my mind, but the reasons only really came as an afterthought."

"That's not really an answer, Ichiru."

"Yeah, well, what if I don't really have one to give you, Zero? What would you do then?"

The hunter sighed. "By all rights, I should shoot you in the heart for what you've done, but I won't. I'd rather not have to bury another member of my family."

The silveret shrugged unconcernedly. "I'm not a vampire, Zero. Shizuka never turned me, so your Bloody Rose gun wouldn't kill me, just hurt like hell."

"Then why come back? Why now?"

He rested his elbow on his thigh, his hand coming up to pillow his chin even as his fingers cradled his cheek. "I have two reasons for being here at Cross and one for being here in particular." He ticked the reasons off on his fingers as he spoke. "I'm here because Shizuka wanted to meet with someone in order to confirm a task and because my heart told me I needed to be here. As for why I sought you out in your bathroom, well, that would have to be because I have it on good faith that you're in a bit of an emotional crisis."

Zero started. "What gave you that idea?" he demanded hotly, "And who told you that piece of bullshit?"

Ichiru laughed, pantomiming zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key like he was five years old again. "I won't disclose my original source, but your reactions have only been confirming it, Zero-nii. You've always hated vampires, but you don't flinch whenever I throw Shizuka's name out like you should. Knowing you the way I do, I'm going to hazard that you've fallen in love with a vampire, very likely a pureblood considering that you haven't yelled at me for following Shizuka around like a lovesick puppy, and by that logic and knowing the fate of those who love a pureblood as well as I do, I'd have to guess that you love the missing Kaname Kuran." At his brother's glower, he asked, "Am I wrong, Zero-nii?"

Before the exhuman could reply, a loud knock on Zero's door had both of their heads whipping to the boundary concernedly even as Yuki's voice floated through the wood. "Zero! You're late for class! Get your ass out here in five minutes or I'm coming in to drag you out, dog or not!"

The Level D sighed heavily, calling back, "I'm coming, Yuki, just give me a minute to pull my pants on."

Ichiru got up off the porcelain, theatrically stretching his back by pushing on it with his bent arms. "This conversation isn't over, Zero."

"I know."

* * *

><p>"So," Shizuka stated slowly, her butt planted firmly on the polished mahogany coffin that held her real body as she turned Maria Kurenai's pale eyes on the male before her, "that's your situation?"<p>

He nodded. "Normally, I wouldn't want that asshole within five miles of Takuma, but considering that if he leaves campus, it'll only be to report to our _darling_ Rido, I'd rather have him remaining here for days on end than out of my sight."

"Hm," she murmured, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Well, what you need is a new pureblood to run the Night Class, that way he'd have to stay in order to make sure the new pureblood would prove loyal to the Senate, but _I'm_ in no state to do such a thing, I'd be killed on sight or dragged back to that hellhole of a prison, even if I revealed myself in a public setting, never mind that I'm too old to play school anymore. Finding Kaname Kuran's also out of the question since he was the original President of the Moon Dormitory and thus already perfectly suited to rule, and that leaves only two more true purebloods to use, Rido himself and Sara Shirabuka."

He growled at the last name, his yellow eyes flashing with barely-contained anger. "Sara Shirabuka is a slut who only cares about ruling. There's no doubt in my mind that she wouldn't hesitate to turn us over to Rido, if she isn't already part of his games that is."

"You know what this means then, don't you?"

He sighed heavily. "Yes. I'll have to create the persona of a pureblood, which means I'll need a proper aura and some good kick-ass powers to boot."

"I'll lend you my blood to create the former, but you'll be on your own with the powers, Masaru."

He thought for a long moment, weighing out his options. "That will work," he finally said, nodding slowly in confidence of his actions. "I have just the person in mind to give me the latter."

* * *

><p>Kaname could not believe he'd been roped into doing what he was doing, all for Kat to help Zero. Right now, he was lying out across the entryway of the Moon Dorm, his muzzle resting on his front paws as he waited to be attacked, whether it was by the door itself or by someone stepping on him. And why was he volunteering himself for more pain? Because he needed a reason to let out a loud noise when those doors burst open as the cat had claimed they would, <em>that's<em> why. However, when he yelped loudly at the sudden pressure on his tail, yanking it back pointedly as his head whipped around in an instinctive growl, Kat merely met his eyes with a blink of her own and a swish of her slender tail. "**Stay here for a while longer, Kaname,**" she mewed, sauntering off towards the servants' quarters. "**I have one more errand to run tonight**." As she turned, though, he couldn't help noticing that she had a little vial filled with a strange reddish-black liquid that was tucked under the yellow ribbon around her neck.

* * *

><p>Dawn: *comes back* Okay, I apologize in advance for having to revert back into the whole "Kat's a girl" mindset for a little bit and potentiall throw you readers for a loop, but since Kaname is clearly an idiot when it comes to gender, I couldn't just suddenly have him thinking Kat was a boy when all he's known is that he's a girl.<p>

Kaname: And if you haven't noticed before that Dawn's been pulling things from obscure poems for the past while, here's your proof! Last chapter we mentioned two Homeric epic poems, _The Iliad _and _The Odyssey_, but here, the lines written in blood in Aurora/Dawn's room are a set of lines from another archaic poem. Please review if you know what it is!

Dawn: *smiles* I haven't read it, but that doesn't stop me from quoting it to suit my purposes!

Zero: *facepalms at her idiocy* And we still have that persistent mystery character from a few chapters ago, so keep reviewing to guess who he is!

Dawn: But that's not all I have to say. I also feel like needing to tell you the new pairings that may or may not be showing up in the near future! Right now, my brain is thinking some IchiruxShizuka with it turning to IchiruxAurora, and then some ShikixRima and AidoxKain/KainxAido, but if you readers want, that could be subject to change...

Takuma: With a solid 2700+ words this time for the actual chapter, I feel confident sending you off this time!

Kat: Thanks for sticking with us this far, and you're free to go now! It's only review-answering now.

* * *

><p>Review-answering:<p>

**Saru-Sama' Sarukiji Sempai: **I know! I liked it while I was writing it, and I know it goes against what most people think is right and/or ethical, but in my mind, it's justified because it's not really bad due to the fact Kaname is a dog, so...

**blackfire1331: **COOKIE! *dives for cookie* Well, I've already got that (yep, got a whole table at lunch who've creeped out with the fact they know I write this kind of stuff), and as for Aurora/me, well, I kinda didn't see me getting together with anyone until I began writing, so... *sweatdrops* To be honest, Aurora's sorta turned from being me to being her own character...

**mpiedz: **Sadly for us fangirls, no he didn't. However, I have a feeling Kaname'll tell him once he's back to normal...

**irmina: **Yeah, kinda hot, but hell yes it'll change their relationship (especially when Kaname gets back to his usual vampire self)! And of course Katsu can do email, he was human once himself. And you'll see who's coming next chapter, but Aurora knows Ren's really Kaname because she foresaw this whole thing happening (plus her witch powers are coming out, so... yeah).

**ElheiM: **Knowing Zero, probably not (probably because he hasn't seen Kaname/Ren since he left to go find help). And now that that's settled, I hope this should help you figure out who it is a little easier! (I didn't make it hard on purpose...) Katsu talking to Takuma is soon, I promise. As far as Aurora, Rido, and Kaname's transformation are concerned, however, I don't want to reveal all my cards too early!

**OneStop: **You're welcome! And that basically sums up my reaction to what I wrote: so hot, but so wrong. And trust me, he'll turn back somewhat soon! There's still some more pieces to be moved into play first though... And the answer to that last question is that they can TRY to mate, and it would be even more wrong yet possible, but I'd rather they didn't, if only because I take this to school with me and it'd be awkward explaining to my teacher why someone of my age and behavior would be writing such things... or why I'd have it in the pockets of my hoodie...


	11. 9: A Puppet King for a Pretend Kingdom

Dawn: *smiles* Wow, things are really picking up in this chapter!

Zero: But I barely appear in it!

Kaname: Or me!

Dawn: Because this for plot development, idiots. Besides, we get a closer look into Aurora and Ichiru's psyches!

Katsu: *sigh* When will we go back to the fun lemons?

Dawn: When I say we do, kitty-cat.

Katsu: ... You did NOT just call me a kitty-cat.

Kaname: *sigh* The poem from the last chapter is _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner _(Originally _The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere_) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Zero: And if you haven't noticed by now, the meaning of the names in this story have some meaning. Or at least, the ones of the OCs do anyway.

Takuma: ... ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine: A Puppet King for a Pretend Kingdom<p>

Aurora had a lot of secrets she'd rather keep hidden from the Night Class. She could control the winds when she was distressed and fire when she was angry. When she was scared, water obeyed her, and when she was depressed, earth followed suit. She had been bitten by a vampire as a small child and saved only by the quick action of Kaname Kuran, who had been hurt badly enough that he proceeded to take some of her blood from her leaking wounds, the two of them to continue cutting her over and over so that he could heal since her wounds healed up the instant his lips came in contact with the ragged flesh. She went to various gambling facilities and not only used her powers to play, but also counted cards while she was playing. She killed Level Es every now and again for Kaname simply to alleviate her powers. But most importantly of all, she was not entirely human. Aurora Tiresias was the first child to be born of a human mother and a vampire father. She knew who her father was, he was dead now, but she couldn't reveal her identity, not because she was afraid of what would become of her, but because her father had sired her out of wedlock in a sinful affair meant to hurt his wife and then abandoned her and her mother when it became apparent that his vampire wife was pregnant with a baby boy.

She would never reveal who she was to her half-brother. She would never tell him how his father had killed her mother in a fit of rage when she came to show an infant Aurora to the man at the mansion while he and his mother lay sleeping. And she had no intention of informing him how she was the one responsible for what had happened to his parents. The information would shatter him, and the truth was, as much reason as she had to despise her half-brother for being the reason her mother died, she loved him with all her heart and would gladly take the secret to her grave if only to keep him happy.

If she was surprised to see the little black cat sitting on the bed in her temporary room, the colors were all pink and white, not the least in her style, she didn't show it. "I was beginning to wonder when you would show up, Katsu," she said, leveling her sea-green eyes on his small form, "especially with that ancient beast on campus."

The kitten sniffed in disgust, his muzzle jerking up in slight defiance. "**You're one to talk, Aurora **_**Tiresias**_**,**" he replied snarkily, his tail twitching behind him.

She pouted at him, pulling out a prescription bottle from her pocket and popping one of the white pills into her mouth. "How rude," she murmured, sea-green eyes flashing with an emotion he couldn't read. "You come here to ask for my assistance, and yet you continue to impose yourself upon me. You don't even adopt a more normal form to reassure me of your intentions."

He let out a high _mrow_ of laughter, his form rippling like water until he was the boy from before, his golden kimono making him look paler than ever. "As if my appearance could ever reassure a mere mortal witch, Aurora," he said, lowering his head once more from where he'd thrown it back earlier in his mirth. "It certainly didn't back when your namesake asked my eldest brother for immortality for her precious Tithonus."

She closed her eyes as she inhaled deeply, holding her breath and only opening her eyes once more as she exhaled audibly. "I can't do what you've come to ask me to do, Masaru."

He smiled, revealing sharpened canines that were nowhere long enough to be vampiric in nature but by all means held more length than any other of his kind. "How do you know that? I haven't even verbalized my request to you yet."

She sighed, rolling her eyes even as her breath stirred a few strands of wayward hair that had fallen over her face. "There's little you can hide from a seer, Masaru, never mind that I could feel the power emitted by that vial that you've placed underneath yourself. You want me to disguise you as a pureblood vampire."

"That _would_ be rather helpful, Aurora."

"Even if I had the blood from a true pureblood, I'm not powerful enough to bind the faux scent and aura to you, let alone give you any powers to rival that of a pureblood vampire."

His yellow eyes narrowed. "That's too bad, Aurora. I guess I'll just have to involve your brother in this. I'm _certain_ he'd be delighted to throw himself into the line of fire knowing he was doing it because his _sister dearest_ couldn't manage to pull off a simple pair of spells."

He got up to leave, but a small hand wrapping around his wrist stopped him from walking past the redhead. "Wait," she said, her face veiled and her tone carefully devoid of emotion. "I'll do it."

* * *

><p>"Ren!" Zero called, walking towards the Moon Dormitory as he searched for his puppy. He'd waited all during class, but when physical education came around, the class he usually slept through, and he still couldn't find the little chocolate-furred dog, he decided it was high time to send out a search party. As of now, he'd looked over almost the entire campus without any sign of the canine, and it was starting to worry him. Ren's disappearance was a little too similar to Kaname's numerous ones throughout the years, striking too close to his heart for comfort. "Ren!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey Senri," Takuma asked, his fingers pausing in buttoning up his jacket, "Have you seen Katsu?"<p>

The brunet shook his head, his ice-blue eyes traveling lazily to the blond's emerald gaze. "Not since last night," he confessed.

"I'm worried about him, he could get lost in the Moon Dorm and encounter someone who doesn't know if his dislike of being pet."

The model sighed heavily. "Takuma, cats wander off all the time. I know Sakura did it about once a week, but the thing is, she'd always come back on her own. I'd bet Katsu's simply exploring his territory."

* * *

><p>Kaname's ears perked up, and he let out a low growl, padding out of the protective barrier of the imposing wooden double doors. Something was wrong here. He trotted forward, sniffing the air suspiciously, then let out a low growl, his hackles raising as he glared directly at the threat, a male with a white mask who looked extremely similar to Zero, only the scent fell just shy of the hunter's as far as attractiveness in Kaname's opinion. If he wasn't so dignified, he would have barked his heart out at the silveret, but he was a pureblood, so he had to settle for simply following the sweep of the cloak along the grass deeper into the forest.<p>

His eyes went wide at what he sensed there. Sure, by all appearances it looked as though the male was merely conversing with a Night Class student, a silverette noble with a slender body and fragile looks, but he could tell that she wasn't what the seemed to be. She was a pureblood. She was a threat. His ears flattened back as his fur puffed itself out even more, a low growl building deep in his chest. He didn't know how he knew, but he was certain that she meant Zero ill. He prepared himself to spring at her when a hand wrapped around his tail, pulling him from the bushes. He held back a yelp of pain, staring into a pair of light brown eyes. A delicate snort came from somewhere beside him. "What'd you find, Ruka?" a feminine voice asked, its owner none other than a blonde girl.

"Kiryu's dog," she replied, sneering slightly. "I guess that means the hunter himself isn't too far behind."

"Let it go, Ruka," the other noble replied. "It wouldn't be wise to piss off Kiryu again. He might do something more drastic than point the Bloody Rose at you and toss Akatsuki around like a rag doll this time, especially if you keep causing pain to his pet."

"What are you, Rima, an animal lover?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, but I don't need to be to know that you're hurting him."

Actually, Kaname had been contemplating biting her hand, but that was beside the point. Instead, Zero's voice floated through the trees, "Ren!" Worriedly, Kaname snuck a glance towards the clearing where the pureblood and the human had been talking, but they were gone.

"Kiryu!" Rima called, catching his attention. "We found him."

The silveret burst through the trees, a blush staining his cheeks from the physical exertion and panting hard as he scooped up Kaname back into his arms again. The pureblood couldn't stop his tail from wagging excitedly at the feel of Zero's strong arms around him once more, happily nuzzling his muzzle into the hunter's collarbone. "Thank you," the Level D muttered sincerely, his face turned towards a tree rather than the vampires, rather unused to the prospect of having to express gratitude to leeches. He walked away stiffly, seemingly in a hurry. At Kaname's curious look, his head cocked cutely to one side, he explained, "There's someone here at Cross, a guest, who might be able to explain what happened to the resident pureblood on campus until recently, Kaname Kuran."

* * *

><p>The entire Night Class jumped when the doors burst open suddenly, revealing a man they all would have never wished to see. "Grandfather!" Takuma cried, emerald eyes confused, "What are you doing here?"<p>

Asato Ichijo may not have been a pureblood vampire, but he could give off the dangerous aura reminiscent of one perfectly well. "It's time to face facts, Takuma," he stated, "Kaname Kuran will not be returning to Cross Academy any time in the near future. We need to choose a new leader, one who can manage to hold down the students attending this school to the satisfactions of both the Senate and the remainder of the vampire community."

The blond bit back a slight snarl at the implications. "Is my position as _president pro tempore_ not enough reassurance for you, Grandfather?" he asked point-blank.

The elder vampire's eyes narrowed. "You are a noble who has no powers to speak off other than that half-assed swordplay you like to do with that oversized knife of yours," he stated harshly. "Of course you would be ill-suited to take over the position as Head of the Night Class."

"That's why I was summoned to Cross Academy, Ichio-san," an unfamiliar voice stated, the attention of every vampire present riveting to the newcomer standing at the apex of the stairs in the foyer, his hands resting on the railing even as his hips realigned themselves underneath his body and stirred his knee-length black hair about his figure once more.

Sensing the aura emanating from the other male, both Ichijos straightened, Asato the first to speak. "Not to be rude, but who are you?" the Senator asked, only the slight subservient posture he had taken keeping the question from becoming a demand.

He shifted his figure imperceptibly as his eyes flickered to the tall figure of the other vampire. "My name is Nicholas Ryou," he stated, redirecting his gaze to Takuma as if Asato didn't have anything about him to hold his interest. "Kaname asked me to take over his position should anything happen to prevent him from holding down the fort on his own."

As if he didn't like to be ignored so poignantly, the elder Ichijo said rather critically, "And where exactly are you from, Nicholas Ryou?"

Nicholas shrugged, redirecting his gaze from the blond as hesitantly as if he had just been asked to leave his favorite toy behind to be burned. "Here, there, and everywhere," he replied. "However, I've spent much of my time roaming around Eastern Europe and the two northernmost countries of the Americas. It is only recently in my life that I have ventured onto Japanese soil."

"Interesting," the noble mused, then shook his head. "However, your extensive travels do not excuse the fact that you do not know how the Senate functions in Japan. I think you will find it quite different from that of most countries you have visited, Nicholas-sama."

"Quite to the contrary," he said, the corners of his mouth twitching in the same way Takuma noticed the brunet pureblood's had when he was fighting back a smile, "the human Parliament system in the United Kingdom and the Congress of the United States, and if I have any problems with the Japanese system, I'm certain your grandson, or anyone else here for that matter, would be happy to assist me."

Ichio bowed, but the younger Ichijo could clearly sense the dissatisfaction coming off his grandfather in waves at having been outmaneuvered by a foreign pureblood. "Very well, Nicholas-sama, but if you do not mind, I would like to remain here to assist you in your duties until you become better acquainted with our culture."

"Of course you may. In fact, I would be grateful to have your help in such matters."

* * *

><p>Ichiru was out walking towards Zero's room in the Sun Dorms when he saw the girl sitting on the side of the marble pool in the courtyard of the Moon Dormitory, her hand trailing through the spray of water from the swan's mouth, but he cried out when she pitched backwards into the water without any prior warning, running over to pull her from the depths coughing and spluttering. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, water dripping down his nose and his silver hair plastered to his face and neck. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"<p>

She chuckled dryly at the inside joke. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," she replied honestly, shivering in the circle of his arms.

"Try me." His voice was demanding, fierce, and impassive.

She shrugged. "I wanted to see if I could drown."

"So you wanted to test it in a pool owned by a bunch of aristocrats?" he asked, dumbfounded. She nodded mutely. "Humans drown. You don't need to test it to know it's true, and whatever you're going through, it can't be worth the suicide for you and the pain you'd bring your family."

She snorted, looking away from his stunning lavender eyes. She'd seen them before on Zero, but somehow, on this male, they seemed all the more captivating. "I have no family."

"No one? Not even a cousin or an uncle or a brother or something?"

"No one knows who the hell I am. No one would give a shit if I turned up dead in some alleyway somewhere. They'd just be concerned that I can't do anything else for them anymore."

Sighing heavily, he pushed her up onto the concrete siding once more before pulling himself up as well. "Listen, I care, all right? I know how it feels to be surrounded by people and feel like you're more alone than ever, but you have to fight that feeling. We've all got something to live for, even if that something's just proving that you're a real person to the world."

"Thank you," she murmured, pushing herself to her feet and turning to walk away.

"Hey," he called, "What's your name?"

She smiled, pausing at the little door. "Aurora."

* * *

><p>Nicholas winced as his back collided with the wall of Kaname's study, his hands firmly wrapped around Ichio's wrists even as the noble's hands were the only thing holding him up off the ground by the fabric of his black yukata. "I may not know exactly who or what you are," the Ichijo hissed, "but there are no purebloods on record with the name Nicholas Ryou."<p>

The pureblood smirked cockily. "How are you so sure? After all, there are many possible families and countries of origin I may have come from."

"Because the Ryou bloodline went extinct several thousand years ago on my orders. I even killed the last member myself." Nicholas's eyes widened at the revelation. "So you can rest assured that I mean what I say when I tell you this: I will find out your true identity, Nicholas_-sama,_ and then I will tear you limb from limb for daring to get in the way of my plans."

The Level A's eyes lit up like fireworks as he tightened his grip until the older vampire cried out, dropping his yukata as if it were made of acid instead of silk. "And you, my good Asato Ichijo, can rest assured that I fully intend to kill you myself for daring to enter _my _territory," he growled, striding over to the cedar side table and picking up an elegant flute glass from its surface. He examined the crystal with a critical eye for a prolonged moment of time before he deemed it adequate, filling it with water. A glance over his shoulder informing him of Asato's continued presence, he stated dryly, "I thought my threat a subtle enough dismissal for even you, Asato, to understand but apparently I have to clarify myself. Get out of my room now, before I bite you for your insolence."

* * *

><p>Dawn: Le gasp! Things are starting to come together!<p>

Takuma: *is too busy looking for Kat under random objects*

Kaname: My question is who Nicholas really is...

Zero: *sweatdrops* Just look at the name...

Kaname: Nope, still not seeing it.

Zero: Would someone PLEASE review and knock some sense into him? Please?

Dawn: Zero said the p-word! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ZERO?

Zero: ... *runs off*

Dawn: COME BACK HERE, ALIEN! *chases him*

Takuma: Since Dawn isn't here to say it now, if any of you artistic folks would like to have a crack at drawing some fanart for this story, we'd really appreciate it! Just send us the link to the picture so that we can look at it! If it's good, Dawn may even make it her profile picture!

Kaname: Well, until next time, and Dawn updates again!

* * *

><p>Review-answering:<p>

**irmina: **Yep, there's Ichiru! And as for Aurora, well, the answer's in the chapter, ne?

**OneStop: **Well, thank you, it's what keeps me busy on the weekends as well (and during the day). As for Shizuka being good, well, none of my characters are wholly good or wholly evil (I think), so who knows? I'm just making this all up as I go along. Oh yeah, but the thing is, I doubt they would. They'd likely turn pink and send me straight to a counselor or something. (Yes, I really do have that many lemony and/or yaoi stories in my stuff...)

**ElheiM: **Yep, Katsu and Shizuka know each other (mainly because Katsu was in love with Rido and Rido was supposed to marry Shizuka), but thanks for the encouragement for IchiruxAurora, it's the only "new" pairing I might actually write a lemon for (the AidoxKain and ShikixRima are just there so you know what the others are up to). I hope this chapter gave you a good answer!


	12. 10: The King in Check

Dawn: Many of you will be upset with me this chapter for making it so much shorter. However, since the last chapter was so much longer in comparison, I feel justified in putting it out. Plus, this way, you get to decide if there's a TakumaKatsu lemon in the next chapter or not!

Kaname: *looks up at sky* Please put me out of my misery, please put me out of my misery, please put me out of my misery...

Zero: *looks up at sky* Please put her out of my misery, please put her out of my misery, please put her out of my misery...

Takuma: ... Due to the fact Dawn's starting to run out of decent plot twists other than the current one, we're beginning to descend into the final sequence. *tear* I don't want it to end!

Katsu: Me either! I haven't even had sex with you yet...

Dawn: I DID tell you two I MIGHT make a sequel to this, right?

Takuma: Yes, but when should we EVER take you seriously on that?

Dawn: ... Since I decided I'd like to have this done before I go on my trip in a few weeks... I really don't wanna leave you guys on a two-week hiatus, especially since my ideas usually fly away by then...

Katsu: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Ten: The King in Check<p>

Rido let out a snarl as he paced, whirling around. "What is taking Ichio so long?" he ground out, his every movement speaking of more and more tension collecting in his body. "I mean, how hard is it to take one memory-altered pureblood puppy and a little kitten from where they lie and bring them back?"

"Relax, Rido," Sara chided from her position of being curled up on the fancy armchair in her study, the stem of a slender flue of wine clutched delicately in her hand. "I'm certain Ichio will retrieve the troublesome animals, after all." As if on cue, the old-fashioned telephone on her desk rang. "I would bet that's him now."

He yanked up the receiver, jamming it against his ear. "What?" he demanded, his eyes fixated on Sara's form as if promising that her fate would be in question if she were wrong about the person on the other end of the line.

"_It's me. There's been a... problem._"

Rido's eyes narrowed, Sara even sitting up attentively in her chair. "What kind of problem?" he demanded in a low voice.

"_Kaname's scent is all over the property, but the pureblood himself is nowhere to be found. However, there is someone else acting in his stead in the Night Class, someone _other _than my grandson._"

"What?" he uttered, shocked.

"_There's another pureblood at Cross Academy!_"

"I've kind of figured that out! What is the name?"

"_He introduced himself as Nicholas Ryou._"

Rido's multicolored eyes fell onto Sara, who looked vaguely pensive about the conversation she'd overheard. "Ryou," she murmured thoughtfully, "I thought that family was exterminated decades ago."

"It was," he replied. "I had Ichio see to it himself. The Ryous were too dangerous with their ability to cross reality and dreams so easily. I even had Ichio bring me the head of the last descendant to confirm the kill."

Sara strode over to one of the massive bookcases in her study, pulling a glossy hardcover volume from the shelf. "Rido," she said softly, her finger pausing midway through the page, "I think we've found your missing feline." At the Kuran's slightly confused look, she elaborated. "The name _Nicholas_ means 'victory of the people' in Greek."

"So?"

"The name you call him, _Masaru_, literally means 'victory' in Japanese."

Ichio, who had overheard the entire conversation, added his own contribution. "_I heard Takuma talking to your son today. He was asking about a kitten, one he apparently named Katsu. _Katsu_ also has a meaning of 'victory'._"

* * *

><p>Nicholas sighed as he entered Aurora's room, tugging at the fancy yellow sash around his waist and causing his black yukata to change back into the golden kimono from before. "Thank you, Aurora," he murmured softly.<p>

She nodded, rubbing a fluffy white towel over her soaking-wet hair. "I didn't do it for you, Masaru," she replied bitterly. "I did it for the sake of my brother's sanity."

"Yeah, well, about that, how upset do you think he'd be if I killed Asato Ichijo?"

A sharp breeze yanked at the fabric of his kimono and the cotton of her maid's uniform. "Masaru! Killing people is generally wrong!"

"He knows I'm not who I say I am, Aurora. It can't be helped now, can it?"

She fixed him with a dark glare, but the wind had gotten strong enough now to tear the curtains from the rod. "Excuse me," she said, brushing past him and walking into the hallway.

He frowned, pouting. He liked a good argument, especially since the ones with the seer made him feel powerful due to the fact that he always won them, but since he had been abandoned in the room because the girl couldn't control her damn powers, he decided now was as good a time as any to briefly check in with Takuma, reassure the blond that he hadn't completely disappeared. A tap at the collar of his silk kimono had it disappearing, the only thing remotely resembling clothing on him now being the strand of yellow ribbon hanging low around his neck. Brushing aside a significant portion of his black hair, he revealed a square of white medical tape, wincing as he yanked it off his fuzzy black cat ear.

"What the hell?" a voice gasped from the doorway, and he wheeled, a black tail standing up on end behind him even as his fingers took a claw-like position. Framed by the doorway, his blond hair falling over his shocked green eyes, Takuma Ichijo looked at the strange neko boy before him with fear in his posture. In a movement quicker than the vampire could react, he dove past the Vice President and slammed the door shut, not feeling the least bit self-conscious about baring himself so openly. "Aurora?"

"No, Takuma," he sighed, biting his lip as he looked down at the floorboards. "It's me."

"Ka- Katsu? What the-? Who the-? How the-?"

The black-haired boy frowned, the fur on his tail smoothing as it drooped between his legs, his ear falling slightly as well even as he tried desperately to hide his vulnerability. "I suppose you think I'm a monster now, huh?" The blond shook his head. "A freak? An experiment? An abomination? You'd be right, of course. My mother, my siblings, my best friend, even my own exlover all thought I was a freakish failure of nature."

A pair of slender fingers pushed his chin up as warm lips gently pressed against the very tip of his nose. "I don't think of you that way, Katsu," he murmured softly. "You'll always be just Katsu to me."

He froze, unsure the words he was hearing were true. "Are- Aren't you afraid of me?"

Takuma laughed, a smile on his face. "Why would I? You're hardly as threatening as my friend Kaname would be if he was in your position, and I already know how _that_ scenario would turn out due to living with him since his parents died."

"I guess I should leave now," Katsu murmured, turning towards the door, only for two strong arms to pull him against a firm chest.

"Why?"

"Why?" he repeated. "Why? Don't you hate me for pretending to be your cat?"

"Hmm," Takuma pretended to think, his tone mildly playful, "I could have a cute little black kitten, or a hot neko boy who looks absolutely fuckable right now. I might need some persuasion to decide, but I'm sure that with some incentive, I might be able to settle for the second option."

"Anything," Katsu breathed, his single free ear brushing against the vampire's cheek when it twitched. "I'll do anything to make it up to you."

The blond stiffened slightly behind him for a moment before he pulled himself back slightly in order to slowly and painlessly remove the second square of tape to release the neko's second ear. "I was kidding, Katsu." When the black-haired boy didn't respond, he added, "You know that, right?"

The cat boy remained perfectly still for a long moment. "I wasn't," he stated finally. "You're the first person I've fully trusted in a very long time, Takuma, and I would do anything to earn your love."

* * *

><p>Aurora glared at the slender sapling, the force of her gaze intense enough for her powers to shred the thing to pieces in a matter of moments. Still upset, she glared at numerous other young trees to reduce them to splinters, letting out a little scream after her seventh one and dropping to her knees on the ground, her legs bending easily to the side and connect her ass to the cloying earth. "Hey," a familiar voice asked, a hand touching her shoulder hesitantly, "are you okay?"<p>

She glanced over to see the silveret from before. "Yeah," she sniffed, giving him a fake smile. "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

He gave a brief little thing back, more like a twitch of his cheeks than a honest-to-goodness smile. "I never gave it to you. I'm Ichiru." Since she seemed to like the hand on her shoulder, or at least she wasn't pushing it off, he sat down beside her, their sides touching. Silence reigned for a prolonged moment underneath the moon before he spoke again. "So you're a witch."

Her head whipped around to stare at him, her piercing sea-green eyes slightly frightened. "How did you-"

"I saw the thing with the trees. Since normal humans can't do that and you don't smell like a vampire, that leaves only the option of you being a magician, right?"

She nodded, staring at the sorry remainder of the first tree to cross her path. "I can usually manage to keep everything under control, but when I'm being used for my talents, well, things just bottle up until I can't take it anymore. I came out here so that I didn't end up destroying anything more valuable than forestry."

"It's not healthy to let things get this far, you know."

Her hands fisted into the fabric of her dress. "I know, but it's not exactly as if I can control my destiny, can I?" A wind started to pick up around her, slightly lifting her from the ground.

Worried about her lifting off in a vortex of swirling currents, he grasped one of her hands in his. "Hey hey, calm down, I wasn't trying to insult you, okay? Don't go all Wicked Witch of the West on me."

She chuckled, the breeze instantly dying down as she was gently deposited onto the earth once more, this time where she was leaning against his side. "I know, but I just... couldn't help reacting. I've had a lot of shit going on in my past, and a lot of it is really touchy stuff."

"It just goes with the territory, right?"

"Right."

They were quiet for another long moment, Ichiru enjoying the warmth of her body while she basked in the steadiness of his own, using it to firmly anchor herself. "Hey Aurora," he asked after a while, "do you know what's going on with the tension on campus?"

"Yes," she replied hesitantly. "It's mainly the shockwaves brought on by Kaname Kuran's disappearance."

He shook his head. "No, it's more than that. I could already figure out as much, but your response just told me that you know what's really going on."

"It's complicated," she warned.

"Like I said," he replied, his lavender eyes looking skeptically at her, "try me."

She took a deep breath in. "Kaname Kuran was changed into a puppy. He escaped the clutches of Rido Kuran, his uncle, with the help of a shapeshifter whose true name is Victory. Victory was adopted by Takuma, but Kaname ended up finding Zero. Because Kaname can't remember the truth, Rido's been out looking for him, and since his agent has entered Cross Academy campus, Victory's been trying to protect Takuma at my expense while he waits for his friend Shizuka Hio to kill Rido." Ichiru was quiet for a long moment, processing her explanation. It was strange, certainly, but it fit a lot more of the facts much neater than any of the other theories floating around. "Well, what'd I tell you? You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, I believe you," he replied, his lavender eyes firm as he stated the fact and then softening when he added, "I also think you seriously need to find some new friends."

She smiled softly. "I'm working on it."

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><p>Kaname napped curled up in the crook of Zero's arm, the two of them fast asleep in the hunter's bed. None of the Night Class had come out for class change, but as the exhuman had explained to Yuki earlier, his hand firmly wrapped around the pureblood's collar all the while, it made sense considering that Asato Ichijo, one of the ancient members of the Vampire Senate, was here. He hadn't caught the scent of the other pureblood again, much to his relief, though he did have to restrain himself from sniffing all over Yuki when she approached Zero. Just because he currently hated the girl didn't mean he particularly liked scaring her half to death. But now, something running across his back, cold and slender, drove him into wakefulness. His wine-red orbs opened slowly, widening as his hackles rose at the sight of what was standing so close to his precious Zero.<p>

"**Pureblood**," he growled, a memory tickling at his consciousness. He knew this woman, of that much he was certain, but he couldn't quite recall what it was about her he was supposed to remember exactly.

At the sound of his rumble, the hunter's arms constricted around him. "Kaname," he murmured softly, nuzzling into the soft fur, "Kaname."

"Aw, isn't that absolutely endearing, Kaname?" she purred, a cruel smile on her face. "My little Zero even _dreams_ of you. It's a shame he only recognizes your true identity when he's asleep."

"**You can't touch him!**" the Level A snarled, his position holding firm even as the fur around his neck bristled with his anger and determination. "**I won't let you hurt him again!**"

"How cute, the puppy has fallen in love with his master," she mocked. "I wonder if the feelings would be mutual if _my_ Zero knew you were his darling pet?"

"**You wouldn't dare**-" he began, but she waved her hand, knocking him unconscious.

With the knowledge of the canine's true nature ringing in her mind and the transformation of her shapeshifter friend looping through her memory, she had discovered in a matter of moments what had taken her fiancée years to decipher. She smiled darkly, content to leave the two males where they were. "Well well, Rido," she murmured softly, closing the door behind her, "who's the stronger one now?" It had not taken much to break her pet, no more than it had to convince that foolish blond boy to go see his precious Aurora. Honestly, the young Ichijo claimed to agree with Kaien Cross's foolish idea of peace, but in truth, it was only because he thought so fondly of that girl Aurora Tiresias. In any case, it wasn't as if Shizuka cared. To her, it had become a fight against Sara Shirabuka, and all these others, including Masaru, were only colorful, pleasing, wonderful distractions... and collateral damage.

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><p>Dawn: Inevitable betrayal! Why does Katsu always pick friends who betray him?<p>

Katsu: *shrugs* It's fun that way.

Takuma: ...

Zero: Anyone wanting to guess my reaction to Kaname or who Aurora's half-brother is, please, feel free to leave it in a review!

Kaname: And the offer for fanart still stands!

Dawn: Until I can update next (within a few days in all likelihood)! *waves*

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><p>Review-answering:<p>

**OneStop: **Thanks for the encouragement of IchiruAurora, I was thinking it would seem a little Mary Sue-ish since Aurora is kinda me, even though I tried distancing myself since she became a major character... And yeah, Kaname has forgotten most of his vampire memories since he became a dog, but I mean, considering that the relationship status of those two has NOT been confirmed (cough NOT-TOGETHER hack), how else was Kaname going to fall in love with our dear Zero-kun?

**Shane:** Well, thanks for the encouragement. I'll certainly pass it on to Kaname...

**ElheiM: **Aurora wanted to kill herself because she didn't want to be used (plus she saw it was the only way to meet Ichiru). The girls weren't intentionally helping Kaname, Ruka just accidentally found him and Rima simply told Zero that they'd found him. As for the rest of it, I hope the new chapter answers your questions!


	13. 11: The Decision to Save a Life

Dawn: With finals tomorrow, another interlude in the works (Takuma's first time), a split chapter to finish, AND a overseas trip looming in the near future, I must be insane...

Takuma: Thanks for the 75+ reviews, it makes us all proud to get closer to that ever-elusive 100! KEEP PRESSING THAT BUTTON, IT'LL GIVE UP EVENTUALLY!

Zero: She seems tired enough to not ramble, so HURRY, DO THE DISCLAIMER!

Kaname: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

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><p>*Maman- means 'mother' in French<p>

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><p>Chapter Eleven: The Decision to Save a Life... (Part One)<p>

Kaname awoke with a pounding headache that only seemed to worsen with the scent of lavender surrounding him. Cradling his head in his hands, he pushed himself upright, his eyes peering through cracks in his fingers. For some reason, his memories of the past several days was a blur, but he was well-trained on how to recover memories when you'd been forced to forget them. He simply had to think around the holes in his memory in order to fill in the blanks. He knew the quarters where he was. These were... "Holy Mother of God," he muttered, scrambling back until his back pressed against the wall and his right arm was pinned to his side by the solid wood bedside table. "I'm in _Zero's _room." His head swam in confusion. He _hated_ Kiryu, and yet, when he had spoken, he had used the hunter's first name, not his surname like he always would. Something had changed while he was out, something that made him both want to cuddle up to the silveret and take a very thorough shower. Since he figured the first option would likely not be received well, he got up to go to Zero's bathroom. The exhuman _would_ be explaining some things as soon as Kaname was decent, of that he was certain. Something furry brushed against his calf, causing him to jump in surprise. He twisted around, blanching at the shaggy dark brown coming out of the back of his pelvic bone, the fur the exact same color as his hair. What had happened that he couldn't remember?

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><p>"You," Takuma said slowly, swallowing hard around the lump of desire in his throat, "You aren't yourself, Katsu. I'm s-sure that if you just gave yourself a little time to think about it, you would come to a different decision."<p>

The neko boy leaned forward, his nose brushing against Takuma's neck. "Is it because I'm not a vampire?" he asked forlornly. "Because I'm not a girl? Because I'm considered a god? Because the Egyptians gave me the name Set due to the fact that I abandoned them and their king, my own brother?" He seemed tritely guilty now, reminiscing over things so long ago in the past that they were considered mere myth. "It was not my fault I left Egypt, it was not my home. I have been searching for a home for nigh on five hundred millennia now, but I have yet to find one. It's not my fault, dammit, it's not my fault! Don't leave me alone, _Maman*_, I'm sorry! Please, _Maman_, I'm sorry!"

Sensing that the young cat teetered on the brink of reality and insanity, he wrapped his arms reassuringly around the kitten boy. "It's okay, Katsu," he murmured softly. "I'm right here. I won't leave you, I promise."

A spark lit up those yellow eyes. "You've got that right," he purred. "I won't let you leave me like every one else has. You're honorable, aren't you, Takuma? You wouldn't leave my side, not like the others have."

The blond stumbled back a step, the black-haired boy following stubbornly. "Katsu," he panted, blushing when hands undid the buttons of his shirt, wandering over his chest, "What are you doing?" The neko didn't respond, however, far too preoccupied with mapping the contours of Takuma's upper body with his tongue and teeth, his tail wagging lustfully to stir his scent, which was laden down with enough hormones to put a rabbit warren to shame, into the air. When he caught the smell, the vampire's eyes burned bright red, his head falling forward to rest against the bare shoulder of his companion, resisting the urge to bite down and use the fangs he'd ignored for so long, as the spitfire pushed his white Night Class jacket and black button-up shirt from the Aristocrat, having already disposed of the crimson tie and the silver clip. "Ka-Katsu!" he cried, the black-haired boy having bitten his shoulder hard enough to draw blood over a pair of pseudo-fangs.

The cat licked his lips to cleanse the skin of vermilion as he raised his head. "You have a very nice taste, Takuma," he murmured huskily, "nowhere near as overwhelming as the others I have tasted." He dispensed an identical mark on the blond's other side, a satisfied look in his eyes even as the wounds healed over. His mouth moved lower, placing open-mouthed kisses all along his partner's chest and stomach while carefully avoiding his nipples, somehow managing all this while also pushing the other male down onto the garish pink coverlet. The vampire let out a hiss as his hips came into contact with the shapeshifter's own, the only thing keeping them apart being the thin fabric of his boxers and the white uniform pants. "Relax," the shorter boy huffed, his tail lashing across the bed as his hands firmly pressed the hips bucking up in protest back down. "All good things come to those who wait."

Emerald eyes flew down to yellow orbs, seeking reassurance in their depths, but eyelids slid shut and his head fell back into the pillows as his pants and underwear were finally removed. However, at the sheer pain of penetration without any lubricant or preparation other than the vampire's own fluids and the occasional fingers he might insert while masturbating, he couldn't contain a strangled cry of "Katsu!" and slightly curled in on himself.

"I'm sorry," Katsu whispered, leaning forward to kiss away his tears. "I simply know no other way, Takuma." He held his hips perfectly still until the clenching on his cock began to lessen and the noble's tears began to slow before he started lightly thrusting in a search for something to potentially undo the damage he had done. Finally, right when he had begun to despair that he would never find the blond's prostate, the Level B gasped, his fingers lengthening into claws that scrabbled at the shapeshifter's strong hips for purchase. His ears shot up with delight from where they'd fallen back slightly in concentration, and he wasted no time in speeding up his thrusts, making sure to mercilessly pound that one spot.

This was by no means Takuma's first time, but his past lover hadn't been nearly so harsh with his penetration. At the initial thrust, if it weren't for the hands holding his hips motionless, he would have squirmed away. Despite that, Katsu was a surprisingly gentle lover, making sure the blond was experiencing pleasure before pursuing his own. "Katsu!" he yelled, releasing across their chests and stomachs even as the cat coated his insides with warmth. Exhausted, the neko pulled out, collapsing on the bed beside the vampire and fell asleep.

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><p>Aurora stopped dead in her spin, eyes closed, where her partner, Akatsuki Kain, couldn't move her with all his considerable vampire strength. The blond frowned, slightly put off by the redhead's sudden lapse in interest in helping him perfect his waltz. Aurora didn't have much mind dedicated to the finer aspects of aristocratic life, but she was loyal enough to the Night Class to at least fake an interest when asked to do so. "Aurora?" he asked. "Is something wrong?" She wasn't responding, so he tapped the center of her forehead with the bone of the foremost joint in his pointer finger. "Everything all right, Aurora?"<p>

She jumped, her smaller body jolting in his arms. She blinked owlishly, realizing what had happened. "Oh yeah," she replied distractedly. "Listen, can I give you a rain check on this? I have somewhere to be." He nodded, letting her go and she ran to the main doors, pausing for a moment with her hand resting on the weathered wood. "And if you're hoping to woo Hanabusa-sama, some blood-filled chocolates wouldn't hurt your odds, Akatsuki-sama." He blinked at her advice, blushing as his hands went to the pockets of his white uniform jacket, wondering how she'd determined the purpose of the endeavor yet unable to ask because she was already gone.

The witch had no problem summoning a little ball of fire to her palm as she dove into the forest, finding a plethora of reasons to be pissed, forefront among them being the knowledge that a drastic change had happened, causing her dear Ichiru to be brought upon the brink of death. She may not have known where he was, but with the wind at her back, fire lighting her way, earth beneath her bare feet, and water moving easily through her veins in the form of blood, there was no doubt that she would find him.

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><p>Kaname's hand came up now that the spray of water had ceased, fingers playing along the edge of the dog collar around his neck. He couldn't fully remember everything that had happened, but the shattered pieces he could recall were enough for him to realize that his love for Zero hadn't changed in the transition from canine to vampire. Sighting heavily as he caught sight of his dog ears in the mirror, he grabbed a plush blue towel from under the sink and used it to roughly dry his hair. Wrapping the terrycloth around his waist, he opened the door to see the hunter already awake and dressed, studiously ignoring the pureblood as he straightened the patch on his arm that proclaimed him a member of the Disciplinary Committee. "Zero," he breathed, heart pounding at the sight of his newly discovered obsession, "I can explain-"<p>

"Don't, Kuran," the hunter interrupted, refusing to meet the Level A's wine red gaze. "Just don't."

"Zero," he murmured, his voice softening as a hand reached for the distant exhuman, "please."

"Don't be here when I get back, Kuran, unless you really want me to shoot you." The harsh words, along with the sound of the slammed door, tore at Kaname's heart. What had he done wrong? Did Zero regret him returning to his normal form? What had he done _wrong_?

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><p>Katsu woke up in a bed that smelt of sex and Takuma, a warm arm wrapped lightly around his waist. He didn't need to look to know that the blond vampire was fast asleep behind him, content despite the semen dried onto his belly and chest and around his ass. He didn't notice exactly when the first tear fell from his eyes, only that he'd caught it in his palm, and then he was well on his way to creating a small river. The scent of saline was what caused the noble to stir, his emerald eyes full of concern even through their haze of sleep. "Katsu?" he mumbled softly, still not fully awake, "what's wrong?"<p>

In spite of himself, he couldn't help sobbing "I got ahead of myself and raped you, and you must hate me for it," turning his face with even more moisture shining in those yellow orbs. "Fuck it, Takuma, I never meant for this to happen! But the thing is, every time I fall in love with someone, I do something wrong and they hate me for it!"

The Aristocrat's heart broke for the little neko boy, wrapping his arms around the black-haired boy and pulling every part of him against his own body, even as his hips twitched as the tail accidentally tickled his hips. "No, Katsu, don't cry, please don't cry," he begged, his voice thick with his own emotions. "If you start crying, I'll start crying, and then neither of us will be in any state to do anything."

"Why the fucking hell should you give a shit about me crying?" the shapeshifter hissed. "I just raped you!"

"Katsu," he murmured, leaning over the shorter boy's shoulder to kiss the side of his neck, "You were just too afraid of me leaving to do anything rational. Besides, it wasn't as if it wasn't pleasurable for me." When the other male didn't react other than move his head away from the soft kisses he was placing along that strong jaw that was trembling with its insecurity. "I love you, Katsu. Stay with me, please. I'm not leaving you. I won't leave you, I promise."

The neko looked up at his partner, a desperate light in his eyes. He wanted to believe the blond, he really did, but when he'd spent so much of his life being rejected by the ones he loved, he had every right to be as insecure in himself and his new lover as he was at that moment, though Takuma wanted, nay _needed_ to reassure the boy that he could trust again. His lips quivered as he stared into those emerald depths before he cried out sharply, burying his face in that soft chest and letting those strong arms shield him from the harsh world that had rejected him so many times before. "Takuma!" he cried, the words wrenched from him by a fierce desire to simply articulate his trust and happiness.

The blond couldn't resist. He'd seen the way Katsu had played with pain, drawing blood enough times that he felt confident that the neko knew exactly what it meant to be a vampire's lover and everything that entailed. It meant being isolated from human society, living at the beck and call of any purebloods and those of higher social standing than himself, and being entirely ready to give himself to his lover. "Katsu," he murmured softly, hiding his burning eyes from his partner, "may I bite you?"

The black-haired boy didn't hesitate. He knew everything that came with the duty of loving a vampire; he had, after all, been a pureblood's lover once, long ago in another life. When one vampire bit another, it was to consummate a blood bond. He may not have known if the vampire part of him had hung around after he'd been stabbed with a hunter's blade and shot with the bullet of a vampire gun, but even so, to wear a vampire's bite was admitting that you were his possession. Katsu would rather be a mere trinket, a blood source, than alone once more, even though part of him knew with unerring certainty that the blond would never do that to him. "Yes," he answered fiercely. "Drink your fill and make me feel whole again."

Takuma bit down, sliding his fangs elegantly beneath the skin of the shapeshifter's neck rather than tearing as many young vampires were used to, including Katsu, albeit on the other end: receiving rather than giving. Blood, tangy sweet and filled with a bitterness that was an aftertaste most would find horrible but left the young noble wanting more. He only took a few sips, enough to sate his gentle thirst and mark the other, before he licked the remainder of the crimson from his lips, pressing a soft kiss to his victim's forehead. "You taste wonderful," he encouraged softly, soothing frazzled nerves. "I'm glad I'll have you all to myself from now on."

A crease appeared on Katsu's brow, one the Level B was quick to smooth away with a brush of his mouth. "You don't want more?" he asked, off-balance because of his past experiences. "You don't want to punish me for what I did wrong?"

"Like I said," Takuma breathed, smiling softly at the slightly calmer scent of the creature beneath him, though it was far from the relaxed smell that had been while its source was asleep, "you did nothing wrong, and as for your blood, well, I've never really been a big eater, though you do taste absolutely divine." Since the tension in the shapeshifter seemed unaffected by his words, he added, "Of course, I'd be happy to change my mind about punishing you."

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><p>Dawn: And since I'm working on so much, I'm gonna go sleep now...<p>

Kaname: Please review, it encourages her to do horrible things to us...

Zero: WAIT, THAT'S A BAD THING!

Takuma: ... Good night. *falls asleep*

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><p>Review-answering:<p>

**OneStop: **I don't know when I'm going for sure (it's a good two-week thing), and as for Ichio/Ichijo, I thought it was common knowledge that Asato Ichijo, Takuma's grandfather, is also called Ichio...

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: **I know, I just can't stop laughing at my dirty mind, and I hope this chapter sustains you until I can update again!

**Ohbaby: **I know, you and everyone else wants Kaname-puppy... (including me...)

**irmina: **Last paragraph broken down: Shizuka figures out the truth because she tortured it out of Ichiru, betrays Masaru/Katsu, turns Kaname back into human-ish form, and then decides she wants to fight Sara Shirabuka for Rido's hand. Odd, but I wasn't the one who came up with it, my Shizuka muse did...

**mpiedz: **... Could be. Might not be...

**ElheiM: **Yay, glad you're enjoying this so much, and yeah, if the ending works out, I'll have PLENTY of loose ends to follow for a sequel.

**Astharoche:** ...not sure what you mean by that, but okay then...


	14. 12: And How to Damn a Soul

Dawn: Again, I don't feel like making a lengthy intro and exit today, I'm a little busy "studying" for my "exams" tomorrow, so I'll just get on with this. And as for the interlude I mentioned earlier, I promise, it should be up within the week.

Kaname: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

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><p>Chapter Twelve: ... And [How to] Damn a Soul (Part Two)<p>

Aurora had no warning of the vampire's presence, so when the pureblood attacked, the only thins she had to protect her were a piercing scream and a wall of water she'd pulled from the atmosphere. "Interesting," the vampire mused, her claws held only inches from the seer's neck by a layer of densely-packed H2O molecules. "Even when taken by surprise, you're still faster at reacting than your mother was. You really do take after your father."

Wind rushed out of the seer's hand, pushing her captor back even as the razor-sharp gust tore through the white Night Class uniform and into skin. "Don't you dare talk about that bastard that way!" she yelled, sea-green eyes flashing angrily. "I'm _nothing_ like him!"

"Temper, Temper," the vampire chided. "I'm merely borrowing this body, after all. There's no need to be so rough on it."

"I couldn't care less about Maria Kurenai and neither could you. She's just a pawn to you and an obstacle to me."

"Swift _and_ callous," Shizuka muttered, critically examining her nails as they shortened back into hands. "I wonder if your father's fangs carried over as well as his eyes did.' She lunged forward, nimbly dodging past a sudden spike of earth, and pressed a bleeding wrist to the redhead's mouth, forcing some past unwary lips.

Gagging and shuddering in disgust, Aurora doubled over, coughing up crimson onto the cloying leaves, though when her head came back up to glare haughtily at Shizuka, the pureblood observed the points of immature fangs behind her lip. Her eyes, however, merely burned a brighter green, anger and bloodlust combining in those depths. "Coward," she spat, the word honed like a knife. "You hurt Ichiru, tortured him for answers he would have willingly given you, and now you play with me, hiding behind my parentage and Maria Kurenai's body."

"The Hunter's Association and the Senate think me crazy," the silverette remarked lightly, "and yet even _I_ would hesitate to fight a pureblood at full strength."

"My vampire half lends me speed and power," the witch hissed, "and my human half immunity from compulsion." She spread her hands, smiling sarcastically as her fingers closed, nails biting into her palms. "In short, I'm even more of the perfect assassin than your toy Zero Kiryu is."

High, cold laughter rung through the clearing as Maria's body collapsed, the redhead spinning to pinpoint the true Shizuka Hio. "Now I know why Kaname Kuran keeps you around," she remarked, her long silver hair shifting around her. "Even without knowing the true scope of your power, you are such _fun_."

"_Fun_?" the seer ground out past gritted teeth, eyes flashing brighter still in warning. "Is that all I am to you purebloods, an interesting diversion?"

"To me? Absolutely. To Kaname? Considering that he treats life as one giant chess game, I'd say simply an extremely adversarial one of his pawns."

Her restraint shattered, Aurora let out a wordless scream, her hands coming up to release more fire from them than what she had summoned before in her entire life, including when she killed her father and his whore of a wife. Despite all the rage burning inside her body, only one thought remained in her mind. **_Some say the world will end in fire,/ Some say in ice./ From what I've tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favor fire./ But if it had to perish twice,/ I think I know enough of hate/ To say that for destruction ice/ Is also great/ And would suffice._**_ My fire shall destroy all others, and my ice myself._

Cold arms wrapped around her middle, easily tossing her into a deep pit about 6 feet down. "Let me enlighten you of the first rule of war, Aurora _Tiresias_," the pureblood remarked, her voice echoing as it carried down to the seer, full of acid when her surname was mentioned, "Never put all your resources onto one front or into any one attack."

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><p>The loud bang of the two large double doors hitting the walls of the Moon Dorm could only mean one thing: Kaname had returned and he was pissed off. Hanabusa, as the closest to the foyer and slightly riled up by the scent of blood coming from the outside, was the first to set eyes on the pureblood, who by now means looked like himself. His mahogany hair was a mess, two identical points sticking up on either side, he wore a Day Class jacket and pair of jeans the blond would swear belonged to Zero Kiryu, and his aura was roiling and frothing with the tight restraints he'd put on it. He didn't seem to be injured, the scent of blood absent from his person, but the noble was taking no chances. "Kaname-sama!" he cried, darting down the stairs and to the brunet's side, "Are you all right?"<p>

Kaname's hand moved faster than anyone, including the rushing Rima, Ruka, Senri, and Akatsuki, could see, backhanding the Aido onto the marble floor, sending him skidding with his cheek turned away. The blond had no idea what he'd just done to earn a slap harder than any he'd experienced before, but the memory of a leather shoe connecting with his ribs danced in the pureblood's mind. "Kaname-sama!" the aristocrats cried, shocked at how the Level A was behaving, Ruka taking a step towards him even as Akatsuki knelt down beside his cousin to inspect the damage.

Instantly, a fierce metal shove sent the ashen blond flying into the two models, the pureblood storming off to his room, where he promptly slammed the door, and the sound of the lock clicking firmly into place resounded loudly over the shocked vampires. Senri may not have been as adept at reading the other brunet as Takuma was with his many years of experience with the seemingly unflappable Kuran, but he was certainly good enough at it to detect pain in those eyes, along with something downright disturbing. "Is it just me," he asked slowly, "or did it seem like Kaname had a pair of dog ears sticking out of his hair?" Since he was the only one among them who'd had prolonged exposure to animals, all he received were blank stares from the other nobles. At least he hadn't mentioned his suspicions of the pureblood having a tail stuffed down his pant leg; the others would have thought him just as insane as his mother was.

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><p>Deep inside the trench, Aurora cowered against the earth wall her fingers had squirmed their way into, her eyes shut tightly against the horrors of her temporary prison. Shizuka truly had chosen an appropriate location to use as a prison; not only was the pit a magical dead zone, it was filled to the brim with vengeful spirits who seemed to take acute delight in watching the redhead's adrenaline levels spike higher and higher as they continued to run their ice-cold bone fingers down her warm skin and tangle them in her coppery hair, the joints catching on strands that were only ripped out by the indifferent spirits. Her hands, caked with dirt and her own blood, scrabbled at her collar until she hooked a finger around a black leather string, pulling on it to reveal a small triangular stone with green swirls on its beige surface. The pendant had a long and unfortunate history, but with her mother's charm imprinting itself into her palm, she couldn't help feeling a little safer.<p>

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><p>Katsu gasped at the coldness of the finger that had suddenly been shoved into his ass, squirming his body to try to escape the cold feeling. "Sorry," Takuma murmured gently, drawing the cat closer to his body in apology. "I didn't expect you to be so sensitive down there."<p>

"It's fine," the shapeshifter panted, nuzzling his mate's collarbone. "Just do it. I like it." Shrugging in defeat, the vampire gently prodded around inside until he hooked his finger and managed to get the response of a spine arching so far back that it seemed to crack in protest and a throaty purr fell from his lover's throat. "What the fuck was _that_?" he asked inbetween purrs as the noble continued to press on that one spot, having already snuck in another finger as well.

"Your prostate," the Level B replied lustfully, his eyes a mixture of red and green. Bloodwise, he was calm and sated, but there was a very thin line between blood and sex for vampires, so the reemergence of his red eyes wasn't something unexpected. "It's a pain in the ass to find, but if you know what you're looking for, it makes the sex so much more pleasurable."

"No kidding," the black-haired male muttered, his hips moving about to get himself more of that lovely pleasure and unintentionally providing them some friction on their erections, which prompted a slight desperate grind to their actions. "Fuck, Takuma, harder."

The wonderful three fingers that had been brushing lovingly against his prostate withdrew then, being used now to hold the shapeshifter's hips firmly still. "Sorry love," the blond murmured in apology, "but I don't want you to cum too soon. This _is_ supposed to be punishment now." His eyes glinted then as he shifted uncomfortably, remembering the burning pain of penetration. "I don't want to hurt you," he murmured, "so would you please come up with _some_ way to lubricate this and make things go a little more smoothly."

Katsu looked at him for a long moment, seemingly trying to decide if he wanted to rip the vampire's head off for stopping his pleasure or actually listen to the blond. Settling for the latter, he shimmied down Takuma's lithe torso to his erection, coating every inch of the warmed skin with his tongue. The noble moaned, keeping himself from thrusting up into his lover's mouth only by grasping that swishing tail in front of his face, his pale fingers getting lost easily amid the dark fur, the neko purring around the object in his mouth when his tail was accidentally yanked. Once he'd deemed his cock sufficiently coated, the aristocrat gently pulled the shapeshifter's mouth to his own, effectively muffling the resulting moan as he slid himself into the clenching warmth that was Katsu's ass.

"So tight," he praised, reaching around to stroke the neko's ears and down his back, even to the tip of his tail. "I love you, Katsu."

The shapeshifter bit his lip, and the blond wondered if he'd said too much. "I love you too, Takuma," he replied slowly, his tail wrapping around the vampire's wrist when he thought his mate was going to pull away, "but my name isn't Katsu." The Level B fixed him with a quizzical look, so he explained. "I have lots of alias that I've taken on over the years, and Katsu is only one of them. Most shapeshifters don't like giving out their true names since it gives people power to know something's true name."

"Really? Then what's my true name?"

The black-haired male smiled softly. "You're lucky, Takuma, that you technically don't have a true name. Only true magic users and shapeshifters have true names, along with demons, angels, and objects. That's how witches like Aurora work their magic, by invoking an object's true name. For example, if Aurora was to say _Victory_, I would have to do what she says, regardless of whether I wanted to or not, specifically because she called me by the one name I can never deny myself to be."

"Victory?" the vampire asked, a reverent shine in his eyes. "Your true name is Victory?"

"Yes and no," he replied, chuckling. "That's just the translation you'd understand. Don't worry though," he added, seeing the pout already forming on his lover's face and smoothing it away with a kiss, "I'll be teaching you the proper way to pronounce it, just some other time, okay? Right now, I think moving would be in your best interests, Takuma."

The noble smiled blindingly, hand wrapping around Katsu's erection. "Of course," he murmured softly, delivering a hard thrust to Katsu's prostate. "How could I have forgotten?" They moved for a long time, the vampire pleasuring the neko who had managed to capture him so easily, yet even the stunning endurance of both races had to give after the third orgasm, brought on by another yank of Katsu's tail. The pair fell onto the bed once more, soaking in the afterglow for as long as they could. The world was waiting outside, and they had no choice about ignoring its presence any longer. "We _will_ do this again," the blond promised, planting a solid kiss on the swollen lips of his lover and trailing down to the side of his neck, his mouth pressing firmly against where he had bitten earlier, "I promise."

* * *

><p>Ichiru awoke to see a ball of light in a realm of darkness. He groaned, his eyes slipping closed at the resumed throb of his many wounds, but upon realization that the light was Aurora, lavender orbs shot open and he pushed himself over to her, biting his lip to keep his cries inside so as not to frighten her any more than she already was. "Aurora," he whispered, laying a hand on her shoulder, "Aurora."<p>

"Go away, evil spirits," she whispered. "Haven't you tortured me enough?"

Sorrow shone in his eyes as he realized that while he'd been unconscious, the poor redhead had been fighting demons he was unable to see but knew were there anyway. "It's me, Aurora. Ichiru." His voice was hoarse, but he firmly pulled her into his embrace, uncaring about how her body might upset his wounds. "It's okay now, I won't let them hurt you."

"How will you do that, Ichiru?" she asked, her eyes still firmly shut, even though she buried her face into what was left of his jacket, her body jerking as a strand of her hair seemingly pulled itself free of her scalp. "This place is sucking my magic away from me, and both of us are too weak to escape on our own."

"There's no way out?" he asked, brow furrowing. "Are you sure?"

Her body shook with cruel laughter. "Maybe if I used my vampire powers to lift us out, but that's highly unlikely given that I haven't manifested powers in all my fifteen years of life."

His mind whirled with possibilities. Aurora was a vampire? Aurora was half-vampire! "Bite me, Aurora," he whispered. "My blood should be able to sustain you enough to save us." Without wasting another second with protests they both knew were pointless, she bit him with her immature fangs, likely scraping more than she should due to the shortness of the canines and her own inexperience, but he didn't complain, letting her drink until his hands went limp on her back. Her hair was the first thing to begin floating, but slowly, gravity reduced its grasp on the pair until they'd both floated out of the pit, the redhead's shaky control of her wind powers just enough to push them onto the side. Exhausted by that one feat of vampiric power, she promptly passed out against his chest the moment they both touched the ground, his arms wrapping more firmly around her even though he too wasn't in this world.

* * *

><p>Senri could smell the sex coming from the room he knew was Aurora's and had heard the moans coming from the little room for hours now, but when the blond came out with messed up hair and carrying his little kitten in the crook of his arm, the feline's tail swishing against the white fabric with blatant disregard for whatever fur he may or may not be getting on it, the poor brunet was more confused than he'd ever been before in his entire life and even began to question if his mother's insanity wasn't a genetic thing.<p>

* * *

><p>Ichio's lip curled at the sight of the girl curled up under the light of the moon on the chest of Shizuka Hio's pet human, her red hair ruffling with the gentle draft he'd brought with his presence. He'd always hated humans, the fact Kaname-sama stood for pacifist ideology was what had prompted him to betray the Kuran heir in the first place, but he had special reason to hate this particular human. She was a dhampir, or a product of an affair with a high-ranked vampire and a human. Only those ranked noble or higher could have offspring with humans as the baby would otherwise result in a miscarriage, hence how the noble class itself and the common-vampires had come to be. As if it weren't enough for Aurora Tiresias to have the power of both the human and the vampire world resting on her slender shoulders, she also was a powerful witch and knew the secret of the Night Clan thanks to her troublesome mother. Asato was glad that he'd ordered that woman to be exterminated himself, though now it was time to rectify the matter completely by destroying her sole remaining legacy. His hand snuck out towards the girl, only to be halted by the protective tightening of the silveret's embrace and a firm hand on his shoulder. "Not yet, Asato," a female voice purred. "Let the girl be, and I promise you that you shall have your vengeance upon her and more."<p>

* * *

><p>Dawn: The poem mentioned above is "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost.<p>

Takuma: I can't believe you decided to make poor Senri doubt his sanity...

Zero: *chuckles* It was amusing though...

Kaname: Please review to assure poor Senri that he's not as crazy as he thinks he is... or as Dawn is.

Dawn: HEY!

Zero: *closes her off before she starts ranting*

* * *

><p>Review-answering:<p>

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai: **Thanks! I'm glad you adored it! Here's the other half that would've been with it except for the length...

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: **I don't feel so sorry for Kaname now... it's more like I feel sorry for Aurora. Hanabusa may have kicked our poor pureblood, but he did NOT deserve to be slapped around like that. And would you believe it if I told you I currently have no idea who's going to be topping whom?

**OneStoo: **It's fine, my mom doesn't approve of me reading manga either, but it's not like I care... I have no idea what Zero thought it was, but he wasn't amused... and somewhat self-conscious. "What if Kaname can read minds? Then he'd know what happened the other night!" I'm pretty sure that was what his thought process was anyway. Thanks for the wish of luck, and I hope this chapter was a little more to your (and my) expectations...


	15. I: Doorway to Victory

Dawn: Okay, the reason why I haven't updated is simple... I was working on my first YouTube video!

Kaname: Oh God...

Dawn: Hey, it's not that bad! It has you in it!

Takuma: Yeah, but it's about Hanabusa.

Dawn: Shut it! The link to it is .com/watch?v=rHMSwj7ChT4 and my username is the same one as my penname, so you can find me!

Zero: *sigh* What an idiot...

Katsu: I can't believe this is my only appearance. *grumbles* ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Interlude: Doorway to Victory<p>

"Kaname?" I asked, my head cocked to the side as I put a finger in the book I was reading, _City of Bones_ by Cassandra Clare, "how do you know when you're gay?"

My friend paused in his own reading, something much more scholarly in its pursuits than mine, _On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life_ by Charles Darwin. "Takuma," he said, his voice somewhat puzzled though very few, including my grandfather, would have been able to pick up such slight changes in his tone to decipher such emotion, "why are you asking me this?"

I shrugged. "Well, Alec is gay, and Marcus Bane bisexual, so I was wondering what _I_ am. I mean, we all know I like Senri far better than Rima and pretty much anyone else better than Ruka, so I don't think it's too strange if I turned out to be gay too."

Kaname let out a harsh sigh, the fingers fleeing to where his eyebrows met and the closing of those wine-red orbs revealing his slight embarrassment mixed with confusion at my random question. "Takuma," he replied slowly, "You do realize I'm not gay, right?"

I nodded, looking away bashfully. "I know, but it's just that you're so much worldly than I am, so I figured you'd be able to know, Kaname."

He cocked his head then, absently moving the slender red ribbon between the pages to mark his place and closing the book, honestly giving thought to my question now. "Well, Takuma, I guess there's one of two ways to tell if you're gay," he said finally. "Both of them involve doing things your grandfather would very likely kill us for even thinking of."

A thrill of doing something forbidden raced through me, a feeling I hadn't felt since my parents had died. "Let's do this!" I yelled, but he was quick to my side, covering my mouth with his hand.

"Not so loud! Do you want to end up dead before the year's out?" he hissed, his wine red eyes flashing an even brighter crimson. "No, if we're gonna do this, we have to wait until Ichio is out of the way..."

* * *

><p>A week later saw my grandfather off for another one of his boring Senate meetings and Kaname commandeering his private laptop, his fingers skimming across the keyboard as quickly as he could to make certain that the old bastard couldn't follow our cybertrail. We'd already found out that he monitored our Internet ventures the <em>last<em> time we, or should I say _I_, tried to do something illicit, which happened to be me trying to purchase Viagra online so that I could put it in Kaname's birthday cake as a prank; neither of them were amused. I, however, found the idea hysterical, but that was years ago. Once Kaname was certain we couldn't be traced and had placed a series of fake websites on the history to fool my grandfather about where we were, he pulled up a site that he knew the address for by heart, one that had me blushing bright scarlet as I hid my face in the nearest blanket. "Kaname!" I yelled, feeling my cheeks burning, "This is a porn site!"

"Not just any porn site," he replied, his own cheeks a little pink but otherwise maintaining that calm demeanor he was so famous for, "but a porn site for homosexuals."

"_This_ was your first option?" I yelped, the scarlet flowing down to my throat now. "To go look up gay porn?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, because that would defeat the purpose since I already looked up the porn _for_ you. The test would be to see whether you got an erection from it or not." He cocked his head, obviously trying to observe me with a clinical detachment and succeeding fairly well. "So, is it working?"

"Let's try Plan B, Kaname!" I blurted, refusing to look at the screen of his laptop no matter how hard his deceptively slender fingers tugged firmly at my jaw and squeezing my eyes tightly shut when he finally managed to break the lock I'd put in my neck. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's better than this!"

The brunet sighed heavily but did as I asked, navigating away from the page, clearing browsing history, and shutting down his computer. "I really didn't want to have to do this, Takuma," he muttered, "but if it's for you..."

I gasped when warm, slightly chapped lips collided with my own, providing ample opportunity for a moist tongue to slide into my mouth, running along my fangs with the intent to stir them, though it was very careful not to be pricked by the elongating canines. Kaname was kissing me! Wait, _Kaname_ was _kissing _me? At first, I wanted to push him away, for his sake not my own, but when one quick, sinful twirl of his tongue rubbed against the roof of my mouth just right, I moaned into the kiss, relaxing into his strong grasp on my hips, my hands flying to bury themselves into his silk shirt so that I didn't fall over when my knees began to weaken, causing my whole body to tremble. The corners of his mouth twitched as if in amusement, enjoying my weakness as he nudged himself into my pelvis, compromising my balance and sending me tumbling onto the bed. "Kaname?" I groaned, my eyelids fluttering as I took in his appearance, his hair and shirt disheveled from my unconscious attempts to bring us closer.

He looked me over for a long time, his eyes gleaming a vivid vermilion even as his chest heaved, ruthlessly repressing his bloodlust for my sake. He smirked when his eyes caught sight of the erection in the front of my black slacks. "Looks like you're homosexual, Takuma," he chuckled deeply, tossing his head back.

"Ugh, Kanameeee," I practically whined, unable to believe my friend would work me up into such a needy state without giving me any proper means to relieve myself.

"Don't worry, Takuma," he muttered in a husky tone, the bed dipping where he rested his weight on the mattress, his knees and calves resting over my hips, "I would never just leave you like this without helping you, provided you understand one thing." I managed a shaky nod, ready to promise him anything if he could give me a reprieve from the haze of lust in my brain. "I am not gay."

Satisfied that what he asked of me was so simple, I fisted my hand in his long dark brown locks, tugging his mouth back down to my own. Our mouths moved frantically over each other, even when he undid my pants and pulled them off me, using his mind powers to compel me into removing his clothes at the same time. Pulling his mouth from mine, I latched onto his beautiful collarbone, my mind delightfully blank of everything except this gorgeous creature before me. He used his powers again, this time abusing the telekinesis part of being a pureblood to fetch a bottle of lotion of some kind from a drawer and lathering his fingers in it before he probed a cold finger inside me. My hips squirmed against him, held firmly in place by the weight of his own hips and the solid bed beneath me.

His fingers, exactly when he'd worked the second one in was beyond me but I keenly felt the intrusion of the third, moved about, playing rather nicely against the inner walls of what I would assume from all those talks our teacher had, rather uncomfortably, explained to us when she taught us the sex education unit was my ass. When he went to remove those long, slender fingers, I couldn't help releasing a long, drawn-out moan and bucking hard against his retreating hand as he brushed against something wonderful inside me. "What the hell was that?" I panted, looking up at him with lust-filled eyes.

"Your prostate," he replied absently, his hand spreading more of the lotion onto his own erection. I stared at him dumbfounded, but he merely shrugged and stated, "I had a feeling things would turn out like this, so I did some research on a computer in the public library. You'd be surprised what a Google search would turn up."

I went to reply to that, but somehow, he managed to spear that one spot again with his thrust inside me and the words turned into another moan and a panted out "Kaname, _move._" He obliged, his thrusts hard and fast to that bundle of nerves or gland or whatever it was inside me that brought such pleasure while his hand pumped my straining erection and his tongue thrusted in and out of my mouth in a parody of what we were doing below. It wasn't long before my back arched up against his firm body in pleasure, my vision going completely white as I ejaculated between our bodies, the tightening of my muscles drawing Kaname's own release from him.

He collapsed against me tiredly, falling to the bed alongside and curling up next to me like I was a giant fuzzy teddy bear instead of a heated vampire with sweat and cum all over him and leaking from his ass. "Don't you dare think this makes me any less straight, got that, Takuma?" he panted, his breath huffing against my side, "I am _not_ gay." All I could do in response was nod before we both passed into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Takuma: *is mildly scarred* Uh Kaname, what exactly did you Google?<p>

Kaname: Um, would it disturb you to know I Googled Vampire Knight lemon fanfictions?

Takuma and Zero: Yes, yes it would!

Dawn: *chuckles* Well, the other reason I wasn't updating was because I'm also working on a new story idea for the summer! There's two possibilities I'm batting around. Both involve werewolves and the same initial pairings as Animal, but there will be no other pairings mentioned (I don't think...). Anyway, the main thing I'm debating over is whether to use an accidental werewolf, or a werewolf prince idea. Either way, I'll attach a brief clip of each idea, so you can leave a review with what you think!

Zero: ... Dawn, are you watching South Park Vampire Knight spoofs?

Dawn: Yes.

Takuma: Hey, is that the one where Aido can't spell?

Dawn: Yeah! You've seen it?

Takuma: Um... that actually DID happen...

Dawn: *falls over laughing*

Katsu: Well, until the next update, readers!

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**irmina: **No, Katsu was in his "human" form for both sex scenes and cat form for when they walked out (and Senri's mom really is crazy because of Rido). And I think Zero's just a little more concerned about Kaname using the mind reading powers we all know he has to learn Zero's been having wet dreams about him and is really insecure about himself. I haven't figured it out yet myself, mainly 'cuz I'm too busy trying to figure out how I want the next chapter to go. As for Kaname, well, I'm pretty sure he's really confused right now but starting to love Zero (if you're a dog, you don't give oral to someone for no reason, your human master or not)

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: **Well, what else was he supposed to do with it? And yes, Hanabusa did, he kicked Kaname in the ribs. And that's reassuring.

**Miyuki1393: **I'm sorry about my delayed update! I'm working on it right now, I promise!

**yuki-eevee: **Because Ichiru is the one to bring Zero to his senses in a violent and comical fashion, THAT'S why!

**Scarlett Snow:** Well, I didn't give you any KanameZero, but I hope this KanameTakuma is enough to satisfy you!

**OneStop: **You're welcome? And yeah, I hated doing that to poor Aurora, but she's gotta trigger poor Ichiru's protective side before everything goes to hell and back!

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai: **Thank you?

**ElheiM: **Yeah, but I mean, Takuma was obviously NOT gonna do his cat yet, so Katsu had to take the initiative. Another great attempt to figure out how Zero's twisted mind works... too bad I have no idea if it's right or not yet. Shizuka got ahold of him, tortured him, and then pushed his broken body down into the pit where she later threw Aurora. I enjoyed the Senri-torture, and I doubt Akatsuki will ever have his way with his Hanabusa-kun in this fic! Sorry! Thanks for the love as always, and I promise, Aurora'll be picking up the next chapter, and Ichiru will be a major character!

* * *

><p>Bonus Material:<p>

Option One: Ariel (Any recommendations for titles will be taken under consideration!)

Even after Kaname had appeared to defend him, along with the rest of the Night Class, it was obvious the situation was still tense. So long as the other vampires managed to stay out of the pureblood's sight, they could avoid falling under his control, and as if that weren't enough, it was clear that if they managed to kill Zero, there was little Kaname could do for him. However, the harsh sound of metal along steel split the stand-off, everyone wheeling to the side, where a vampire's claws were being held in place by a familiar redhead's black leather gloved hand, the redhead crying out when the subtle boom of a vampire gun went off, burying a bullet into his shoulder, though his dark topaz eyes were furious. "If you continue this foolishness," Riel called loudly, "it will be considered an act of war."

"But Gwaedblaidd-sama," one servant protested, "Zero Kiryu is hardly one who could easily be justified as one of your kind."

"Don't make me report my injury, accidental as it was, to the Coalition. I'm sure they'd be more than intrigued by my tale here today," Ash threatened, his voice sharp enough to cut ice. "Now if you haven't gotten the message by now, Zero Kiryu is under my protection and that of my chapter, do I make myself perfectly clear?" He waited for the answering nods before he snarled. "Now get out of my sight. Leeches like you make me sick."

Something then clicked in Zero's mind, making his lavender eyes widen. "Ariel!" he cried, suddenly realizing that the very male he had been discipline all this time was really the young boy he had played with as a child, the one who had taught him hunter moves through his rough play and desire to constantly get better than the older kids at the hunter's daycare who tried to beat him up on a daily basis. In all honesty, he had no idea how he didn't see it earlier; though the hair was different, the Ariel of his memories had short black hair closer to the exhuman's current length than the long red hair he did now, the dark golden eyes were the same, and the last name only had a few spelling changes from the original one, Bleddyn.

The redhead raised a single eyebrow at him. "You know I hated that name," he replied lightly. "Naming a boy 'Ariel' was perhaps one of the cruelest things they could have done."

Yuki gasped in horror. "Your shoulder!" she cried, concern in her eyes, "the bullet's still inside."

Ariel didn't act nearly as shocked, just looked over to see the lack of an exit wound in his black jacket. "Well, I guess it is," he replied. He pulled off a glove to reveal his slender hand, fingers inching towards the gaping hole in his front. "I'll just have to pull it out myself."

A vampire's hand, perfectly manicured, wrapped around his wrist. "May I, Blevins-sama?" a cultured voice asked, Zero averting his gaze in disgust of the polite tone not much unlike a businessman.

"Of course, Kuran-sama," the redhead replied, "A vampire's claws will cause much less damage than my fingers would."

Yuki was on her guard now. She'd not understood much of the conversation between the redhead and the servants of the Senate, but one thing that was clear to her was that this Blevins wasn't human or vampire, but something that was of a high enough standing to require Kaname to address him as a superior though the pureblood vampire was actually a year older according to their school records. "What the hell are you?" she growled out, the Artemis rod extending in her hands to prick against the redhead's throat.

Dark topaz eyes narrowed at the action, though it also could have been in slight pain as the brunet plucked the vampire bullet from his muscle. "You wield a weapon of my kind, and yet you claim to not know what we are." He shook his head condescendingly. "I guess that's to be expected when _that_ particular weapon, the Artemis rod, has become little more than myth to any but those concerned with history."

"I asked what you were," Yuki growled, though it certainly wasn't menacing enough for Ariel to do much more than crease his brow at the effort, "not for a monologue about _my_ weapon."

"I'm a werewolf." He didn't seem too disturbed by the news, acting as casually as if he shared this information every day.

"Hardly just _any_ werewolf, Yuki," Kaname interrupted. "Riel Blevins, also known as Ariel Bleddyn, is the heir to the last traceable line of pureblood werewolf and leader of the chapter of werewolves in the Americas and Japan."

* * *

><p>Option Two: Ashley (This story has yet to be written any more than this drabble, so any title recommendations are much appreciated!)<p>

Zero growled at Kaname when he was pinned to the wall, instinctively struggling against the pureblood as his eyes developed a slight yellow ring around his pupils. "Let go of me!" he growled, "You don't understand!"

"Then tell me, Zero," he murmured softly, holding firm against the younger's squirming. "Make me understand."

The silveret sighed deeply, his eyes softening slightly as he thought about what he wanted to say. "The thing is, I can't make you understand, Kaname. You may have been good to Yuki when she was younger, but you've never had to deal with having lives depend on you to come back every day with food and supplies. It's one thing to fend for yourself, but an entirely different game when you're providing for people other than just your own needs."

"Who are you protecting, Zero?" he asked, his voice a low murmur. "I promise, I won't betray them."

Hesitatingly, the exhuman told the Level A vampire. "There were once five of us including me, but two of the others died off recently. One was the victim of a raging Level E and the other died of complications following an injury. All we have left is me, the leader, a boy my age with shoulder-length red hair named Ash... and a little eight-year-old with black hair named Kaori."

"You can bring them to the Moon Dorm, Zero," he whispered. "They'll be taken care of there. You have my word that harm will not come of them inside Cross Academy gates."

~~~~~~~~~ Time lapse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ash was tense as he walked across the hallway filled with vampires, his arms wrapped around his slender torso as his whole body seemed poised to dance backwards, one hand having slipped into his leather jacket to curl around his anti-vampire blade. Zero, his lieutenant and the one who had arranged for these new accommodations, stood reassuringly by his side, while little Kaori skipped forward, coming to a stop before a sleepy-looking Hanabusa with a smile on her face and her dress swirling around her. "Hi there!" she chirped, beaming. "I'm Kaori. Who are you?"

"I'm Hanabusa," he replied uneasily, not quite certain how to act around a younger child, but she seemed perfectly happy to curl up on his lap and entertain herself by playing with his collar.

Takuma was the first from the class to approach the pair, ignorant of Zero's warning glance and the dark aura surrounding the redhead even as his hand tightened on the bone handle of the switchblade in his pocket. "Come on," he said, putting his arm around the redhead and refusing to let his smile falter when the other male threw the arm off, scowling fiercely and wrinkling his nose at the smell, "I want to show you around!"

"I can navigate perfectly well on my own," Ash growled, his dark blue eyes flashing. "Besides, I won't be staying here. We have a perfectly good place out in the main city to serve as our headquarters."

Ruka's voice, high and cold, instantly zeroed in on the implications. "You're the one whose been hunting down all those Level D and C vampires in the city, aren't you?" she asked, though her tone implied it wasn't a question. "You're that girl who's entire family was killed by vampires and in her grief, managed to graduate to killing Level E vampires at the age of thirteen, Ashley Vermillion."

Everyone stared at Ash then, the entire collection of nobles and even Zero himself. "It depends on what you mean by Ashley," he replied, his hair falling over his face to hide his expression. "I was once Ashley, that's true," he went on. "Of course, that was before I became the werewolf prince Ash."

"And what was it," Kaname's voice ventured, splitting the air and causing everyone to look up at the pureblood leaning on the railing of the landing, "that caused the change of Ashley Vermillion into Ash?"

Ash smiled darkly, the points of his canines, both upper and lower, gleaming against the dark of his mouth. "I died."


	16. 13: Graduation of the Pawns

Dawn: *is sitting tied up in chair with duct tape over mouth*

Takuma: *walks in* Hey, what's up with her?

Zero: *glowers at her* We found out the plot idea she was going to go with.

Katsu: So?

Kaname: She was going to kill most of us off!

Katsu: *gasp* Bad Dawn!

Takuma: Yeah, you aren't supposed to kill people!

Zero: Anyway, she's tied up because of that and she isn't allowed out until she rewrites her plan.

Kaname: *takes new chapter* I think I like where this one's gonna lead us much better, even if it will cut some length out!

Takuma: How much length?

Katsu: Well, if this is right, the ending is likely going to be in the next two or three chapters.

Zero: I'm okay with that. It means she has about a week to finish this up before she needs to go on hiatus.

Kaname: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Thirteen: Graduation of the Pawns<p>

When Ichiru awoke, he felt whole once more. He lifted his head, intending to thank Aurora for hating him, but when he saw how shallowly she was breathing, panic set in. "Aurora!" he cried, fingers running along her face, gently parting her lips to feel the tips of her starved fangs. "Aurora!" She didn't respond right away, so he worriedly put his palm by her lips, reassuring himself that she was still alive because of the breath huffing against his skin.

Her sea-green eyes fluttered open, the green having almost burned away the blue. "Ichiru," she whispered faintly, the slight wisp of a smile appearing on her face as her fingers fisted in the tattered remains of his long trenchcoat. "You're okay."

She was trembling against him, her body fighting to keep her warm, and he found himself pulling her closer in an instinctive response. "Are the spirits still hurting you? If they are, I'll-"

"It's not spirits, Ichiru," she whispered. "It's me. My vampire half is taking over, forcing my magic out." Her eyes softened when she noticed the tears collecting in his eyes. "Don't cry, Ichiru," she murmured, one hand coming up to cup his cheek, thumb caressing a circle over his lips. "If I am to die, I'm glad it will be in the arms of the one I loved." His eyes widened in shock, but hers had already closed, a peaceful expression settling on her face.

"Aurora, no, please don't die, please! I love you!" he cried, clutching her close. "Aurora, please!"

"Do you truly wish to save this girl, Ichiru Kiryu?" a ghostly voice asked, its owner, a slender woman with long copper hair like Aurora's and soft gray-blue eyes, appearing before him in a misty white halo. "You absorbed much of her magic. If she survives, there will be repercussions from the witches, the hunters, _and_ the vampires."

"I don't care," he replied. "I won't let her die because of me."

The woman sighed, her pure white dress billowing around her. "She will likely resent your choice, you know. There are a lot of skeletons in her closet she'd hate for everyone to know, and she's been trying to deny the magic in her blood, both sides, all her life."

"She can hate me all she wants, I can live with that, just tell me how to save her!" he demanded, lavender eyes flashing in determination. "As long as she has a life, I can _find_ a purpose for mine!"

The woman sighed heavily, shaking her head. "My daughter certainly chose a real fighter," she remarked to herself, "but it would do her some good to have someone save her from her demons driving her crazy with its thirst for blood, only it's not humans she's thirsting after. She needs to taste the blood of her father, my lover, who, despite his faults, still promised me he would feed her when this day came."

"Where is he then?" Hope shone in the exhunter's eyes.

She shook her head. "Dead. After my death, my dear Aurora went mad with grief and slaughtered almost the entire family to atone for my murder and her, _our_, abandonment. However, her father sired another child, a vampire who attends Cross Academy. If you can find him and gain his consent to let her drink his blood, she shall awaken and recover, albeit as a vampire." Her message delivered, the ghost witch, Aurora's mother, faded away, her spirit departing for now though her soul would not be at rest until her family was whole once more.

"Fantastic," Ichiru grumbled, lifting Aurora up bridal-style and walking towards the Moon Dormitory building. "You tell me _how _to save her, but leaving _finding _her savior up to me."

* * *

><p>Ruka was pacing around in the foyer trying to scent the cause of Kaname's ire and Rima sitting on the steps watching her when the double door burst open for the second time that night, revealing Aurora Tiresias unconscious and in the arms of a male who could have very easily passed for Zero Kiryu had it not been for the sheer length of his silver hair and the raggedness of his once nice clothes, now in tatters. The two females watched as he lay the girl down on the couch gently, her quiet groan being muffled by the pillows. Only the gleam of fangs insider her mouth could get Ruka so riled up, and she quickly marched over to the silveret. "What the hell did you do to this poor human?" she screeched, her eyes flashing dangerously enough that he shifted his posture to stand more protectively over the redhead. "Who do you think you are, bringing her back on campus when she's nothing more than a <em>filthy <em>whore?"

"Ruka," Rima murmured in warning, "don't. Takuma would have a fit if he knew you were speaking badly of Aurora-chan, and regardless of her status, she _is_ one of Kaname-sama's personal servants."

"I don't care," the ashen blonde sniffed disdainfully, though she did back away. "The girl's always been rather vulgar and uncultured anyway."

"That's because she's _American_, Ruka," Rima informed. "American females have different roles and standards than Japanese women do." Seeing the way the silveret seemed reluctant to retreat from the redhead's side, she asked, "And who are you?"

"Ichiru," he replied tensely, unwilling to be separated from his Aurora because of his surname. "Do you know if there were any students in particular she seemed to feel strongly about, positive or otherwise?"

Rima shook her head. "I'm sorry, I don't, but if you want, I can find Takuma, the Vice President for you. He and Aurora-chan were fairly close."

"I know who she liked," a voice called apathetically from the top of the stairs; Senri was leaning over the balcony with a bored look on his face. "Aurora-chan treated all of us here with respect and honored our requests of her equally, despite being only Kaname-sama's assistant, but the two she seemed to try harder to please were Takuma Ichijo and Kaname Kuran himself."

"Thank you," Ichiru said. "Is there any way I could see them in private? I have something rather... shocking to tell them about Aurora." He knew Kaname was really still a canine, but since no one had recognized him as a vampire's pet, he had to pretend to be a friend of Aurora's who had brought her back unknowing of the Night Class's secret and of Kaname's recent "disappearance".

To his surprise, Senri replied, "Kaname-sama's been a little moody since his return and has locked himself in his room, refusing to let anyone in, but if you'd like, I'm certain I can hunt Takuma down for you."

Questions swirled in the exhunter's mind. When had the pureblood reverted back into his human form? Why was he acting so depressed? More importantly, what the hell had Zero told Kaname to cause such a dramatic reaction? "Um, can you stay here and watch her for me instead? There's something I need to do right now, but I promise I won't take too long."

Senri nodded, carefully descending the stairs. "Hurry back."

Ichiru smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "I will."

* * *

><p>Zero was sitting in the stables with his back against the stall door to White Lily, too depressed to push the horse away when she began nibbling at his hair. He couldn't believe the events of the past few days. <em>Kaname was with me the whole time?<em> he mused, his head tilting back and unknowingly dislodging the mare. His heart ached and his hands reached out, searching for his little puppy before he realized what he was doing and yanked his arms back around himself jerkily with a scowl on his face. "Why am I so upset about this?" he muttered to himself, frowning. "The bastard probably did it to make fun of me." Upset that her snack had disappeared, White Lily lipped at Zero's forehead, causing him to make a face as he pushed her muzzle away. "Stop it," he murmured, absently wiping what horse slobber had gotten on his skin with his sleeve.

"Zero, you asshole!"

He clutched his cheek, his lavender eyes betraying his surprise that his younger brother had been able to hit him quite so hard. "What the fuck, Ichiru?" he growled, barely containing the angry flash of red in his eyes.

"What did you tell Kaname Kuran yesterday to make him so upset that he would lock himself in his room the instant he got back to the Moon Dorms?"

"What?" Zero blurted, floored. "The pureblood bastard's too refined to do such a thing."

"Well, apparently not. He also threw Ruka Souen into two other students yesterday when she tried to approach him after he backhanded Hanabusa Aido hard enough to knock him over."

Zero chuckled throatily, shaking his head. "I wonder what Yuki would think of this side of her dear Kaname-sempai," he muttered, a dark gleam in his eye, but Ichiru just knocked him over the head again. "Ow! What the hell, Ichiru? That fucking hurts!"

"You're such an asshole when you're sexually frustrated, you know that?"

The hunter stared at the other silveret for a long moment. "That was uncalled for. Who screwed you over their knee last night?"

"Oh, fuck this!" Ichiru grabbed Zero by the back of his uniform jacket, dragging him along behind him. "Aurora's dying, and unless you can convince Kaname Kuran to get the fuck out of his depression and give the poor girl some of his pure blood, she's going to stay that way!"

"What are you talking about?" he grumbled, stumbling along as he tried to reclaim his balance. "Ichiru? Ichiru! _Ichiru_!"

* * *

><p>Takuma was sleeping in his bed, his arm stretched out and fingers curled around Katsu's tail even as the small cat stood vigil, thinking about his next moves in the manner he'd picked up from his old friend Kaname all those centuries ago. He didn't want to leave his new lover, not now, but he knew there were too many pieces on the board to justify too much movement. Shizuka Hio was moving in a manner he hadn't predicted, Ichio was still at Cross Academy, Kaname Kuran was back in play, and worse, Rido Kuran was no doubt contemplating his own response to the developments today had brought. The fur that wasn't underneath the warm hand bristled in distaste. There were too many parts in motion, too many players acting in this battle between him and his exlover, and too many spectators that could get hurt if he, if <em>anyone<em>, misstepped in the slightest way.

The door flew open then, making him jump around with fur up on end, but it was just Senri. "Takuma!" the brunet cried, throwing the nearest object, a pillow Katsu had dislodged from the bed earlier with the intent of sitting on it only to relocate himself closer to the blond, "Takuma wake up!"

The blond groaned and rolled over. "Is the Dorm on fire?" he asked sleepily.

"No."

"Is there a horde of vicious, bloodthirsty Level Es beating down our gates?"

"No."

"Then what in the name of all that is holy was important enough for you to wake me at," he raised his head to glance at the digital clock beside his bed, "ten in the morning?"

"Aurora's sick."

Emerald eyes locked on ice-blue orbs, even as Katsu rose to his paws and padded over to Takuma, his fur brushing against the vampire's bare chest. "How sick?"

"Vampire sick."

Takuma's hurt look as he scrambled out of bed, nearly falling flat on his feet as he got tangled in the blankets, was enough to warrant Katsu breaking almost every rule he'd been taught over the years. "Stay here," he meowed up at them, no doubt shocking poor Senri out of his wits. "I'll get help." He streaked out of the room, his tail streaming out behind him, and only skidded to a stop when he stood outside of Kaname's room, his little chest heaving from the run. "Kaname!" he called, not bothering to plant his haunches on the laminate floor, "Open up, you pureblood moron!"

"Go away!" a voice yelled through the wood door, a strong blast of wind coming from the entryway, but the cat merely dug his claws into the floor and held his ground.

"Not until you let me in, Kaname! It's important!" The wind died down slightly, gentling to a breeze that tugged curiously at his black fur. "Aurora's rejecting her human side, and if she doesn't get your pureblood blood, she'll fall to Level E."

"There's a vial hidden in the knot of a dead tree's stump," the draft whispered, its voice full of the sadness and hurt that its true owner could not express. "Save her, Katsu. Save her."

The kitten nodded, springing up to a window and testing one paw against the lock critically, his tail swishing in anger when it proved immobile. "Uh, a little help here?" he asked, a psychic push on the level pushing it open and displacing the cat back onto the floor, where he had to twist quickly to land on his paws instead of his side or back. "Thanks Kaname. I'll make sure she survives this, I promise."

It was a simple matter for him to locate the vial. What he didn't count on, however, were the two guards standing there. His fur bristled angrily at the sight of the two vampires as he repressed a low hiss, fully intending of sneaking by and stealing the blood to save Aurora Tiresias. Suddenly, a pair of cold eyes singled him out from his surroundings and Shizuka's voice called, "I see you there, Masaru. Why don't you come out now, while you still have some dignity." He froze, hoping against hope that if he didn't move, she wouldn't realize it was truly him. "Fine, be that way. It's not as if I didn't ask nicely." He yelped in pain as tight mental cords wrapped around his body, squeezing his change out of him until he lay panting on the grass, curled in on himself and clothed only in that one yellow ribbon.

"How pathetic," another voice said, the toe of an Italian-make leather patent shoe nudging his rib. "The stories claim you shapeshifters are beautiful creatures with the power to destroy a pureblood, but looking at you now, I'm beginning to doubt their integrity."

"I'm hardly a weakling, Asato Ichijo," the young shapeshifter growled, his yellow eyes gleaming with hate. "I was your master's lover, after all."

The noble's eyes narrowed in dislike. "Well, I never said that Rido Kuran had much in his taste for mates," he growled. "I mean, he chose you over his wife Shizuka, and that Shiki whore over Sara-sama. It's only now that he's making a smart choice."

The shapeshifter's body jerked with his amusement as he spat out a wad of blood from where he'd been kicked in the ribs. "Sara Shirabuka is nothing more than a bitch concerned only with becoming queen, and with Shizuka's current history of betrayal, perhaps I was the wise one to leave my affections with the only vampire to ever show me true compassion without expecting anything in return: your grandson." He cried out in pain, doubling over as the ancient vampire activated his own ability, that to make others feel agony with only his mind.

"Takuma would never fall for an animal like you," the old man sniffed haughtily. "Never."

"Enough Asato!" Shizuka reprimanded sharply. "We still have much to learn from him, and I can hardly extract information from a dead body."

"How reassuring," Katsu chuckled dryly, his hair shifting like a mirage over his body with the force of his mocking mirth. "I won't die because I'm valuable to you, Shizuka."

"Yes," the pureblood told him, leaning down to grab him by a handful of his hair, yanking his face up to her level. "But let me assure you that when I am finished with you, you shall be begging for death."

"Good luck with that," he chortled, seeming only more amused by her promise. "I have been put under the knife of people far more ruthless and bloodthirsty than you, Shizuka. You hardly begin to scare me, and unless you can compare to the cruelty of a Spanish Inquisition priest trying to exorcise a demon he believes will destroy his entire church if he does not succeed in sending it back to the Hell from where it came, you never will either."

* * *

><p>Katsu: I live such a tortured life...<p>

Takuma: I wish we had some fanart...

Kaname: I hope we get some feedback on the two possible new stories she put up along with the last interlude...

Zero: I pray you never look up internet porn, book or otherwise, again.

Kaname: Aw...

Katsu: Please review to guess who's gonna save me, or if I'm even going to be saved before the ending!

Dawn: MMMMMPH!

Takuma: Translation- Until my next (forced) update, readers!

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**yuki-eevee: **That we do. That we do...

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: **I know, but I mean come on, who else would have taken Takuma's first time BUT Kaname? I highly doubt it was ever kinky sex, despite all the porn Kaname likes, since he's too dignified for that... unless it's with Zero.

**irmina: **Um, I'm sure none of us do... Sorry Kaname.


	17. 14: Warning Shot Across the Bow

Dawn: Wah, the next chapter's the next one (or at least, the next actual plot-movey one anyway. I might include another just for conclusion's sake, but I doubt it since I'm gonna go on as long as it takes next chapter)!

Zero: *is staring at her in shock* What the hell?

Kaname: How'd you escape?

Dawn: *evil smile* I have my ways...

Kaname: *wide-eyed look* ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

* * *

><p>Chapter Fourteen: Warning Shot Across the Bow<p>

Ichiru stopped dead in the entryway of the Moon Dorm, his lavender eyes wide, forgetting about his poor twin he was dragging about by the back of his black Day Class uniform jacket. "Where is she?" he demanded, eyes sparking in anger as he took a step forward towards where Rima Toya sat on the couch, her head resting on her hands. "Where is Aurora?"

She looked up at him, her dark blue eyes full of regret. "I'm sorry, Ichiru," she murmured. "I only left her for a moment, but when I came back, she was gone."

The nearest object to the poor noble, a small pot full of faux flowers, burst into flames in response to his roiling emotions, nearly lighting one of her blonde pigtails aflame and causing her eyes to widen in alarm. However, it was the voice coming from the landing of the stairs that gave pause to the enraged silveret, his older twin halting in his attempt to steal away from the psychotic younger. "Aurora-chan is missing?"

The exhunter leveled his glare onto the blond standing there. "Takuma Ichijo, I would presume?" he hazarded, feeling confident in his guess to voice his suspicion aloud.

"Yes, and you are?"

"Ichiru Kiryu." Without sparing another glance to the side, he reached out and snagged Zero's collar once more, dragging him back. "I saw you running away, asshole. You aren't going anywhere, not until you straighten out what you broke with Kaname." Throwing his twin at the blond, he growled, "Make sure this dumbass gets to the Kuran, I have to find Aurora. She's the only one who seems to think I'm not in this for myself, and I intend to keep it that way."

* * *

><p>Aurora stalked in the shadows of the forest, her eyes gleaming a bright green with red flecks inside her orbs as she fought the urge to simply enter the Sun Dormitories and drain each and every human dry of their lovely crimson lifeblood. Her throat had been so dry when she'd awoken, cold and alone, so she had simply followed her urge to find comfort in her Ichiru when she left the Moon Dormitory, which was her mistake. She wanted blood, and she was so close to simply screwing protocol and her morals if it let her soothe her parched throat. Her fingers fumbled at her pocket, pulling the prescription bottle from its depths and swallowing two of the white pills. She instantly gagged, doubling over as her body tried to cough up the foreign material and finally the two tablets fell onto the grass beneath her, only the least bit dissolved. "Night Class!" a female voice called, the girl prefect, Yuki was it?, running up to her with a hand on the retracted anti-vampire weapon that made the redhead almost want to hiss at simply being near. "What are you doing out here? The Night Class is not allowed out of their dorm during the day!"<p>

_This girl_, she realized, her eyes widening, _has the same scent as Kaname-sama. "_I... I can't... resist you..." she panted out, the red in her eyes warring with the green now, "I'm sorry." She lunged forward, sinking her lengthening fangs into the poor girl, drinking ravenously and gasping as the memories flowed into her mind. She saw everything that Yuki, yes she was certain of the name now, had experienced in a moment, all the pain she felt watching Zero grow steadily more distant, the forlorn loneliness that she knew she couldn't calm inside her dear Kaname, and the secret want to know exactly where she belonged. Finally, something broke inside them both, causing both girls to let out a slight scream, scrambling away from each other.

Aurora's red hair fell over her face, twisted as it was with confusion, and covered with the blood of the other, while Yuki's hand was at the puncture marks on her neck, her chocolate brown hair reaching her waist as she dropped the sparking Artemis rod onto the grass. "I don't understand," the girl whispered, her voice soft. "How could you?... how could I?..."

* * *

><p>Kaname's head shot up at the sound of the scream, along with the tinkling sound of breaking glass, both physically from where he'd shattered a glass paperweight with the sudden distraction of his focus and mentally from the broken seals he'd placed. "Yuki," he breathed, "Aurora." His wine red eyes widened, suddenly realizing what must have happened as his mind provided him with the memories he'd unknowingly stolen from the redhead when he'd drank her blood all those years ago. Aurora had Kuran blood in her veins, and if she'd bitten Yuki, she would have likely had just enough to break the seal Juri had placed over her memories. Without another thought, he grabbed his white jacket from where it lay across the back of his wooden chair, shoved his tail back down his pants and grimacing as it pulled his fur the wrong way, and jumped out of the window, his landing cracking the pavestones beneath him but he couldn't care less, striding away with firm steps. He navigated by scent alone, following the crazed Aurora had made in the brush until he found Yuki curled against a tree. "What happened?" he asked, reaching down towards the terrified girl.<p>

"Some girl bit me," she panted out, her pupils dilated even as she peeked out at the brunet from between her fingers. "She made me remember everything, and then she disappeared." The corner of his mouth twitched in an imperceptible frown, but there was little he could do to help his dear Aurora when it was obvious his Yuki needed his help more than the witch did. Sighing, he scooped her up in his arms and resigned himself carrying her back to the Moon Dorm and the inevitable rant from Zero that would follow.

* * *

><p>The instant Takuma's knuckles came in contact with Kaname's door, the poor thing fell right off its hinges and onto the floor. Apparently the only thing that had been keeping it upright was the pureblood's anger, which seemed like a reasonable assumption since the brunet couldn't be found anywhere in the absolutely destroyed rooms. His grip loosened on Zero, who peeked around the noble curiously since he'd fully been expecting to simply be shoved into the room and locked in until he and the Kuran were on better terms with each other. "Where's Kaname?" he asked, lavender eyes flying to the blond's face.<p>

"I don't know," he replied. "He was here a moment ago."

* * *

><p>Katsu watched with impassive yellow eyes as the noble chained him to the stone wall of the tower, his hands bound above his head even as the skilled fingers of the older vampire traveled over his ankles so that they too were adorned with the deceptively slender silver chains. "Hey Asato," he muttered, jerking on his wrists pointedly, "You really should tighten these things, I can still feel my blood in my fingertips."<p>

Shizuka stepped forward then, subtly weaving her hips around the noble's even as she smoothly slapped the shapeshifter across the face, and tapped the metal, causing it to instantly shrink to the point that it was practically cutting into his skin. "My mistake, Masaru," she cooed. "I forgot you were used to far worse as Rido's lover."

Suddenly, both vampires cocked their heads to the side, hearing a slight tinkling sound like breaking glass even as one of Katsu's black-furred ears twitched. "What the hell is that?" the blond growled, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"I'd guess the dhampir girl awoke the sleeping Kuran princess in her search for your precious blood, Ichio," Shizuka replied absently.

"What are you talking about?"

Katsu laughed cruelly despite being the one bound in chains. "Didn't you know?" he teased Asato, his yellow eyes silently mocking the way the older vampire's own orbs couldn't help following the blood beading on his lip down to his chin, where it slowly dripped to the ground. "The Ichijos are blood-related to the Kurans. I guess Aurora had enough Kuran blood in her to awaken the poor pureblood princess with a haphazard bite."

* * *

><p>"Kaname!" Takuma cried, seeing the way he strode into the hall carrying Yuki in his arms, though surely there was something different about the prefect what with her longer hair now.<p>

"Kaname-sama!" Hanabusa blurted, though he didn't bound forward, still somewhat wary after the last time he'd tried to approach the pureblood. He froze, however, when he caught the scent emitted by the girl in his arms, so similar to Kaname's and yet so different at the same time. "Yuki...-sama?" he said hesitatingly, confusion clearly written all over his face. "What's going on?"

"Yuki-sama?" Akatsuki repeated, shocked.

"Yuki-_sama_?" Ruka looked ready to kill someone. "She's just a human!"

"Wrong," the brunet replied, his eyes narrowed in a silent warning to the ashen blonde. "Yuki is my sister and Senri's cousin. Her vampire side was merely sealed away when she was five to protect her from those who wish to abuse the purebloods."

"Yuki!" Zero yelled, his hand shoved into his jacket, obviously curled around the Bloody Rose's rubber grip. "What the hell did you do to her, Kuran?" Hurt shone in his eyes, and it was clear the only thing keeping him from shooting the pureblood was the girl in his arms. "What the fucking hell did you do to her?"

"Zero, stop it!" Yuki yelled, springing down from Kaname's arms. "I don't want my two brothers fighting!"

The silence that followed that statement could have been interrupted by a glass dropping to the floor and shattering against the laminate. "What the hell?" Akatsuki blurted, serious confusion on his face as he broke the standoff with his stare out the large window in the foyer and held firm under the sudden focus on him, unlike his cousin who wilted beside and into him. "What is that?" He pointed to the large commotion that looked almost as if the trees were conspiring against each other before the very tips of them burst into flames. Suddenly, without further ado, Ichiru Kiryu fell through the ceiling and directly onto the poor golden blond, both of the males grunting at the impact as Hanabusa let out an undignified squeal he would later deny came out of his mouth. The only thought abounding through the hall was the first one out of the poor Kain's mouth: _What the hell?_

* * *

><p>Aurora hadn't wanted to sic her trees on her dear Ichiru, but something was going on, something important, something she had to stop. She had seen flashes of memories that hadn't been Yuki's in that brief flash to the brunette's past, ones that had belonged not to the Kaname she knew but to the one that had gone before him. She had learned enough about the creature she'd known as Masaru in his human form and Katsu in his cat form to know that the young neko, the youngest of his kind, was dear to Kaname. She was one of the few people who had seen almost all sides of Kaname and not want to back away from him slowly in awe or fear, the other being Takuma, and she wanted to keep him happy, safe, and with a companion that he'd be able to take with him as well, someone who was, not to doubt Takuma's loyalty or that of any of the other Night Class vampire, but loyal as hell to the pureblood and fiercely protective of him as well. Kaname had been taking care of her for her entire life, and she couldn't help admitting that perhaps it was time someone took care of <em>him <em>for a change.

What she hadn't expected in the least, however, was the fire leaping along the canopies of the trees, apparently summoned by the object of her affection. Could some of her powers have transferred to him when she'd bitten him? She knew she still had her winds, but what of her fire? Had he stolen that from her without either of them noticing? Pausing in her hunt, her black maid's dress swirling around her legs despite being rather dirty and torn from her earlier trials, she turned her hand palm up, spreading her fingers hard as she tried to summon fire. There was nothing to greet her, not even when she focused really hard on the element or when she got herself mad enough that she almost wanted to kill something. Her spark had left her, and Ichiru had harbored in it his heart, where it had grown into a beautiful flame. She would have to remember to teach him about how to control it one day, once this whole mess was over. And if something should happen to her, well, Akatsuki could certainly manage to master his gift, right?

She sighed heavily, closing her hand and looking up at the sky. What she wouldn't give to know what would come of the sudden tumultuous change in events, but with the sudden awakening of her vampire side, her Sight had been more clouded than the stormiest of days. She was worried about everyone, it was her nature. She wanted Zero and Kaname to be happier, smiling wouldn't kill them after all, and she wanted Takuma's wonderfully bright laugh to continue to bounce along the corridors of the Moon Dorm. She wanted Katsu or Masaru or whatever it is he called himself to finally lose the pain and sorrow deep inside his eyes, and she wanted the Night Class to stop worrying about whether their beloved Kaname-sama would ever find someone to let into his heart. She wanted Yuki Kuran to realize she was meant to do something more meaningful than marry her brother, and she wanted to heal the hurt in the hearts of those who had suffered because of someone's stupid desire to rule the vampire and human worlds. Most importantly, she wanted Ichiru to feel as if he belonged somewhere, as if he had a proper home for him to retreat to with someone who truly loved him anxiously awaiting his return. "I'd give anything for their sakes," she whispered, reaching up to gently pull a small blossom, the last lotus bloom of the season, from a tree beside her and bring it to her face, inhaling its crisp, clean scent. "Anything."

A loud scream bit the night air as a single flower slowly fell to the forest floor, landing softly against the rotting leaves and fuzzy green moss beside the snaking tree roots.

* * *

><p>Dawn: *sniffle* And still no fanart!<p>

Zero: DIE EVIL SERVANTS OF THE EMPIRE!

Kaname: *looks over at him* What in the world?

Takuma: *maniacal laughter*

Katsu: *tired tone* They found Dawn's old Nintendo 64 and the Star Wars game Rogue Squadron.

Kaname: So?

Dawn: If you shoot the people with a laser, they blow up.

Kaname: ... That's mildly disturbing...

Dawn: Tell me about it.

Katsu: Please review for whatever reason and good night! It'd make our day to know we got to and surpassed 100 reviews by the end of next chapter!

* * *

><p>Review-answering<p>

**irmina: **Maybe. Maybe not. That's a question I do believe I will carry into the sequel. (Aurora and Katsu know the answer, but they don't wanna tell me!)

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: ***has gut feeling that I will be killed for involving Yuki again and books it for the hills*

**Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai: **Thank you!

**ElheiM: ***fast announcer voice* Kaname Kuran would like to state here that, in spite of actions, past or present, that may state otherwise, he is not, in fact, homosexual. *pants as normal voice returns* Glad you enjoyed it, and I will likely be working with that one upon my return from the impending hiatus. Thanks for all your encouragement and I hope you like the new chapter!


	18. 15: This Is War

Dawn: *gets teary* Oh, it's over! Thanks for the 100+ reviews so far, I promise to answer each and every one I get in a PM (if possible!) until the sequel comes out, and as for a last note before the story, the chapter was inspired in short by the song "This is War" by 30 Seconds to Mars. Listen to it while you read or beforehand!

Kaname: ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

Zero: A warning for this chapter includes violence (not M-rated violence but some pretty good stuff) and character death.

* * *

><p>Chapter Fifteen: This Is War<p>

Ichiru took a while to come around, but when he did, it didn't take long for things to start smoking with the force of his anger, only barely being kept in check by the concentrated efforts of Akatsuki Kain, who leaned against the doorway purposefully blocking his cousin from prying into the silveret's moment of privacy, the other nobles having left the two purebloods and Zero alone with the injured male. "Aurora," he panted, "she's doing something absolutely stupid, I know it!"

Zero leaned forward, offering his twin some water from a glass even as he pressed the exhunter into the pillows of the bed they'd commandeered, Aurora's old one since Takuma had reasoned the silveret would be calmer surrounded by the redhead's scent and Kaname was perfectly able to clean up the horrible bloody mess with a raised eyebrow and a wave of his hand. "Calm down, Ichiru. You took quite a fall, you shouldn't exert yourself yet."

Angry lavender eyes met him, making the Level D take a wary step back. "And you! I leave you alone for an hour, and you _still _haven't fixed things with Kaname! My God, what do I have to do to you to get you to see sense, tie you to a bedpost and lock you and Kaname in the room together?" Suddenly catching sight of the brunet out of his peripheral vision, he added, "no offense, Kaname-kun."

The pureblood chuckled dryly. "None taken, Ichiru-kun."

Without warning, the human hissed, "What the hell is he _thinking_?" His hands fisted by his side as a rippling stream of water flew from the pitcher by his bedside and heading straight for Kaname's left eye. The pureblood, however, only had enough time to widen his eyes in alarm before Zero's arm shot out, catching the water's blast with his palm and wincing slightly as it cut into his palm. The glass in his hand shattered under the force of the other rapidly expanding snake of liquid made sentient by Ichiru's absent anger, though this one sprang for Akatsuki's chest and was only stopped by Hanabusa's cry of alarm and the change of the snake into pure ice, caught by the tousled blond before it came close to nicking his cousin. "That moronic cat's going to get her _killed!_" he growled, pushing himself from the bed and storming off, seemingly none the worse for the wear.

"Ichiru!" Zero cried, springing forward, but his eyes widened as something was revealed in the exaggerated winds of his younger brother's wake. "Kaname," he whispered, his lilac eyes widening, then the word slipped from his tongue, "Ren."

Realizing what he'd seen, the Level A instinctively jerked on his jacket while trying to hide the hope and hurt in his eyes. "Ren?" Yuki asked, confused. "I don't know where your _dog_ is, Zero, but Kaname-nii certainly isn't him."

"Yuki," the brunet murmured, slightly encouraged by the lack of a negative reaction from the hunter, "you find Senri and Ruka and go somewhere safe, okay? Something big's going to happen tonight, and I don't want you getting mixed up in it." He raised his gaze up to the two blonds in the doorway. "Protect her for me."

"And what about me?" Zero asked, his hair falling over his eyes as he lowered his head deferentially. He didn't want to follow the pureblood's orders, not right now anyway, but the sight of the white dog collar around Kaname's neck had emboldened him to at least place his faith in the other male's ability to lead.

Kaname appreciated that effort and couldn't contain a slight smile from escaping even as he resolved not to command the proud Level D around the way he would his nobles. "You're coming with me," he replied, chuckling softly at the shocked expression on the silveret's face. "I'd prefer to have no one else at my back in a fight, and since I don't exactly know what's going on out there right now, I'd rather be safe than sorry."

* * *

><p>"Well well," Rido purred, layering his lips over the lovely skin of his captive, "I never thought the day would come where I met such an enchanting person to put dear Juri to shame, even if Yuki did prove an apt substitute, but you, my dear Aurora, have proved me wrong. Perhaps you would be much more consenting to becoming my wife than either of them were, hmmm?"<p>

"Go to hell, Kuran-sama," she growled out, her eyes flashing green-red again. "I'd rather die than kiss _you_." She sniffed delicately for a moment, her eyes narrowing in distaste. "And you consumed Kaname-sama's blood without leaving a drop for me, how inconsiderate of you."

He bowed mockingly, his heterochromous eyes twinkling with what would be mischief in any eyes save his. "I'm deeply sorry, my darling Aurora," he murmured, nuzzling her neck even as she tried to squirm away from him, "but you need to earn such a privilege." Without another warning or even some vampire saliva to numb the pain, the pureblood's fangs buried into her virgin neck, tearing the skin as he cruelly ripped at her jugular in search of more of her blood, and she cried out.

"Ichiru!" she cried, tears openly streaming down her face, "Ichiru!"

As if she had summoned him herself, the silveret materialized behind the pair, his sword digging into the Level A's shoulder even as he hissed and pulled himself free. "You won't touch her!" he growled out, the elements swirling around him even as he pulled her behind him. A small cyclone danced by his feet and played with his long overcoat, flames licked along the edges of his figure without bringing harm to him or his belongings, the air around him was frigid cold as small beads of hail condensed around him, and even the ground beneath their feet trembled lightly with his anger. "She's _mine_!"

Rido looked at the silver-haired male, then at the wound steadily leaking blood in his shoulder through his clasped fingers. "Very well, I concede defeat," he announced, bowing slightly though he never took his eyes from the pair. A smirk lit up his face as he added, "for now, anyway." Ichiru surged forward angrily, but the pureblood was already gone, a cold, cruel laugh accompanying him as he disappeared into the shadows. Almost as soon as Rido left, Aurora let out a choked scream from behind her lip that was held shut with her teeth, her eyes swirling an impossible red-green-yellow tornado before she went limp in his arms.

* * *

><p>Katsu was finally bored of playing captive. He had done it, at first, to ensure Takuma's safety, but to be honest, he had grown tired of denying that he was in pain, damn vampires knew well enough how to hurt someone even if they were nowhere as adept or precise at it as his siblings or even the Kaname he had known all those centuries ago. Without indicating his intentions to the two glaring at him as they pondered their next action and simply let him hang on the chains, he easily snapped the slender chains holding his wrist shackles, not in the least hindered by the trailing chain as he also twisted his way out of the ones on his ankles, the ones he hadn't commented about because they had been put on far looser, just enough so that he could wriggle himself loose with some effort and with a slight shifting on his bone structure, a minor feat for him. "Yeah, that's right bitches," he remarked to their shocked and furious faces, "I can escape your trap. I just stayed because it amused me." His voice dropped into a snarl now, something lighting up his yellow eyes, "However, when you decided to bring what was <em>mine<em> into the picture," his aura was every inch as dangerous as Aurora's or Kaname's was when either were riled, though without the shattering objects and the swirling elements to highlight the change in moods, "I decided it was about time I stepped in." It had been a lifetime since he'd summoned his claws, six lifetimes to be exact, but the fur sprouted easily from his skin, changing his hand into the deft paw of a large black panther, its claws extended in preparation for a fight even as his tail turned more clublike, swishing behind him.

Asato was the first to realize the connotations of the shapeshifter's words. "My grandson isn't yours, feline," he growled, his own claws elongating with his anger.

Katsu smirked. "Please. You can't deny you've seen the bite under my ribbon, the one _you_ so kindly ripped off I might add. You should be able to recognize the marks left by your own grandson's fangs."

"That's not possible!" the noble yelled, his hand coming up to strike the neko, claws unintentionally creasing a line or two of crimson. "Takuma would never sully the family name by taking up with a beast such as you!"

"A beast? A beast? Is that all you think of me as, a beast?" The fur spread further up his arms, but he still retained a fairly humanoid posture, even as his bones began to crack in change, his knee joint slowly relocating backwards. "Let me show you how much of a beast I can be!" he roared, his hands coming forward to slash out at the aristocrat, who nimbly danced backwards for Shizuka to grab the neko by his forearms, pulling him off-balance, her swirling orbs of pinkish-red drawing him from his body and sending his soul to float in the ether between the worlds before he latched onto the first glowing soul he saw, gasping at the swirl of color as he regained the feel of a body once more.

* * *

><p>Zero stood impatiently by the gates of the Moon Dorm, but Kaname had said he wanted to give him something, and because the pureblood had used a pair of softly pleading wine red eyes to his advantage, the hunter was now resigned to waiting for his return. Finally, after enough time had passed that the exhuman was about to simply storm into the Level A's rooms and drag him out by force, he emerged from the large wooden doors, looking his usual impeccable self and somewhat vulnerable at the same time. "Kaname," he breathed out as he relaxed, unable to realize he'd used the brunet's first name until he'd spoken it out loud.<p>

"Zero," the brunet replied with a soft smile on his face as he pro-offered a bracelet that looked similar to the same one Yuki had used to tame him, only with a lot more solid black metal and rubies inlaid to the small pendant, "I want you to have this."

The hunter blinked. "Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"Okay," the pureblood said instantly, his eyes twinkling with amusement, "it's not what you think it is."

"No, Kaname," the Level D balked, refusing to take the bracelet, "I won't take this to tame you, not unless you tell me why you trust me, your rival, with it!"

The brunet rolled his burgundy eyes in slight exasperation, more with himself than with Zero though. "I've lived with you for long enough to realize that you won't abuse my trust, Zero," he answered. "Besides, someone very close to me told me when I was very young to trust my heart since it wouldn't steer me wrong. It took me until when I let you leave to realize I'd forgotten to listen to it and been hurting you, no hurting both of us, by doing so. There's no one I'd trust more than you, so... Forgive me?"

The hunter took it after a moment's hesitation, surprised at how good it felt to hold Kaname's one vulnerability on his wrist and be trusted to keep it safe. "So, if I need to use it, where should I...?" he trailed off, uncertainty in his gaze.

"Anywhere is fine," the pureblood assured him. "I don't have a tattoo like you do, so physical contact anywhere is fine."

* * *

><p>"Takuma," Katsu whispered, reaching out with blurry eyes only to pause when his vision cleared to reveal a silver-haired male he recognized. "Zero?"<p>

The silveret's lavender eyes narrowed. "Try again," he growled, sensing something not right about the way Aurora had reawakened.

The name came unbidden from Aurora's psyche, who seemed somewhat comfortable hosting the shapeshifter in her body. "Ichiru," he gasped, "I know you don't trust me right now, but please, I need you to tell Takuma that his grandfather is here... and wants to see him." His message delivered, the neko let himself drift from the redhead's body and back into the ether, recognizing he had to let events fall where they may for the moment.

* * *

><p>Aurora regained consciousness once Ichiru was gone, and she knew what she had to do. Takuma wouldn't be able to kill Ichio, with or without help, so the only option left to her was to take him on herself. She knew she could cause a good deal of damage to the noble even with her powers having transferred to Ichiru when her vampire side had awakened, but still, it would be near suicide to fight both Asato and Shizuka at the same time.<p>

She didn't care. That was why she threw herself into battle against the sandy blond, both of their claws elongated and scratching against each other as the air between them ran heavy with their auras, the only blessing she was allowed being the fight that Shizuka and Katsu were engaged in, his fur shielding him from most of her claw swipes even as most of his features transformed into that of a cat.

* * *

><p>Zero sensed the fighting long before Kaname did, so he ran forward, the Bloody Rose already drawn and firing at the one woman who had made his life hell, ignoring how the bullets narrowly avoided the strange boy with razor-sharp claws on his black-furred paws and a clubbed tail that desperately moved to keep his balance during this play of war. His vision tunneled exclusively on her, so when a warm arm wrapped around him and yanked him back from certain death at the hands of exploding ground, he turned his head to see Kaname, his eyes burning with emotion. "Calm down," the pureblood murmured softly, his voice cold and calculating as he expertly examined his, no <em>their<em>, opponent. "Fire when I tell you to, okay?" Zero nodded, his finger firm on the trigger even as Kaname moved his hand about with a slender and delicate touch. "Now!"

Smoke rose from the Bloody Rose as the bullet drove home, going straight through Asato's stomach from where he had been pushed by Aurora's telekinesis and burying itself into Shizuka's shoulder. The Madly-Blooming Princess paused, her hand going to her shoulder to dab at the blood. "How dare you injure me?" she hissed. "How dare you?" Sighting the silveret coming up over the ridge alongside the blond noble she vaguely recognized as Asato's grandson, she beckoned to him. "Come to me, Ichiru," she cooed. "Show the Kuran bastard the devotion a Kiryu can show a pureblood vampire."

He shook his head, seeing how Aurora knelt by Asato's side, trying to stop the bleeding of one of the few family members she had left. She knew she should have let him die, everyone watching knew that she should, but yet there she was, trying to heal him for the sake of her family. "I'm sorry, Shizuka-sama," he said, "but my place is with a different vampire now."

Her lip curled. "Fine then," she hissed, "I'll just have to take my blood from someone else then." Then Takuma, poor innocent Takuma, cried out in agony as her fangs buried themselves in his neck, his emerald eyes closing in pain and sorrow that he couldn't have defended himself, if not for his own sake then for Katsu's.

* * *

><p>"No, don't die on me, please," Aurora murmured, up to her elbows in blood though the telltale green in her eyes protested to her ignoring of the fact. "I know I don't need you, but Takuma still does, so you need to sit back up, you asshole, and <em>live<em> dammit!"

Pale blue eyes opened for a brief moment to see the girl working so defiantly to save his life. "You," he panted, "you truly are worthy... of the Ichijo name." She started at that, her eyes looking at him in disbelief. "Of all the bastards my son could have sired... I'm glad it was you." His eyes slid closed then, and without another thing to say of the matter, his body dissolved into the dust all vampires revert to in death.

* * *

><p>Katsu was furious. That was why he had changed so completely, his animal side and human side merging so completely that he took on full cat features now. Snarling, he ripped Shizuka from his dear lover, but before he could rip her to shreds for daring to hurt his beloved, she turned to shadows in his paws. Roaring out his fury, his claws ripped at the ground as if he believed she'd simply disappeared into it, but a warm hand on his shoulders and a soft smile beneath tired emerald eyes brought pause to his actions. "It's okay, Victory," Takuma informed him quietly. "There'll always be another day for revenge. Come back to me, please." Eyes softening, the neko's body shrunk down into that slender, pale, black-haired beauty from before, and he fell sobbing into his lover's arms.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaname sighed as he silently shut the door to his bedroom, looking about his fully restored study. Yuki and the other nobles were fixing up the defenses of the Moon Dorm, and of Cross Academy in general, but Takuma and Katsu lay curled up in the infirmary to recover from the blond's bite wounds and the neko's numerous wounds from his torture, and Aurora was no doubt curled up around Ichiru in her room or teaching him how to control the magic she'd given him by mistake when she'd bitten him. However, he couldn't help smiling softly at the thought of who was sound asleep in his own bed at that very moment. Zero had agreed to give their relationship a try, provided, he'd told the pureblood with a teasing glint to his lavender eyes, that Kaname didn't go changing into a dog again without giving him some prior notice first. At the fond memory, his smile faded from his face as he turned to the chessboard resting on a small table, his wine red eyes not betraying the least hint of surprise at the sight of a bandaged Katsu staring moodily at the pieces. "He doesn't know about your predicament, does he, Kaname?"<p>

"No," the pureblood replied softly, "but Takuma doesn't know about yours either."

"True enough." Silence reigned in the room, broken only by the slight clink of glass against glass as Kaname went through the monotonous movements of creating a blood concoction for himself. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Of course," the Level A spoke softly. "The battle may have ended here, but the fight's only just begun."

* * *

><p>Katsu: Okay, now readers, you have two options here. Dawn can either write a few chapters of the sequel now and post them before she leaves next week (and risk losing the plot idea in the meantime), or she can give you a three-week hiatus before writing the sequel and posting the first chapter as soon as she can upon her return (but have a smaller probability of losing the plot).<p>

Takuma: Please review to leave your opinion on what you want! So until we see you next, loyal readers!

Dawn: *sniffle* This is ImmortalDawn18, signing off!

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><p>Review-answering:<p>

**Miyuki1393: **Thank you!

**irmina: **I hope this (last) chapter answered all your questions!

**ElheiM: **No, I just wanted to involve her a little. Ichiru got the powers because her vampire side threw them on him when she bit him, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**mpiedz: **... I don't disagree with you there.

**ShadowsOfPensAndPaper: ***evil smirks and pulls out pointy knife* Shiny...

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><p>Alright children,<br>The lights are out, and the party's over,  
>It's time for me. Dr. D to start running and say good bye; For a little while.<br>And I know you're going to miss me. So I'll leave you with this  
>You know that big ball of radiation we call the sun? It'll burst you into flames if you stay in one place to long.<br>That's if the static don't get you first  
>So remember even if you're dusted, you may be gone. But out here in the desert. Your shadow lives on without you<br>This is Doctor Death-Defying. Signing off  
>~"Goodnite, Doctor Death" by My Chemical Romance, <em>Danger Days: The True Lives of the Faboulous Killjoys<em>


	19. Sneak Peek at Instinct!

Dawn: Hello again, readers! No doubt you are surprised to see me again so soon, but I have great news! I HAVE FOUND SOMEONE WILLING TO UPDATE FOR ME WHILST I AM GONE ON MY HIATUS! Thank my friend neoko-chan, really, she's agreed to do this for me, so while I've dropped off the earth to (hopefully) continue the story in between bouts of fending off my cousin and little brother with a stick, please, be nice to her!

Zero: *snort* Good luck with that.

Kaname: I mean, really, telling us to behave is like locking a child in a candy store and telling them they can't eat any of it...

Takuma: Hey, didn't I do that to you one time, Kaname, and you didn't eat anything?

Dawn: *rolls on floor laughing*

Katsu: Anyway, since she's giving you a sneak peak at the sequel, Instinct, which will debut on June 6th, we're putting a disclaimer here and simply going to thank everyone for reviewing and tell you that... Dawn's just too lazy to respond to your reviews until she gets back from her trip, where she won't likely do it either due to her overwhelmedness. Sorry.

Ichiru: *first time appearing* ImmortalDawn18 does not own Vampire Knight.

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><p>Excerpt from Chapter One!<p>

"Kaname-sama," a man purred, sitting up straight in his chair as he stared at the imposing pureblood flanked by the redhead in her sexy black sheath dress and the blond in his Night Class uniform, "to what do we owe this visit?"

The brunet took the high-backed chair Aurora impulsively pulled back for him, nodding his thanks at her for the action she hadn't fully knocked out of herself yet from her servant days despite his and Takuma's patient attempts to school her into the confident noble she had every right to be, both by her blood and her actions. "Asato Ichijo was my appointed guardian, regardless of my request for independence. It is my right to attend the meeting concerning his estate, never mind that I am here on Aurora Ichijo's own request."

"I'm sorry," a woman to his side questioned, an ashen blond like Ruka, spreading an elegant yellow fan over her pinched mouth, "but there is no Aurora on the records of Asato's will or anywhere on the Ichijo family tree."

The redhead's jaw came up, a belligerent exposure of her throat that clearly stated she wasn't afraid of them. "My mother is not on the family tree because she was a human seer," she hissed, deliberately extending her fangs just enough to demonstrate that the quality hadn't been expressed in herself, "and I was sired out of wedlock. I have not come forward until recently because until now, events have allowed me to live comfortably without exposing my true heritage to any save Kaname-sama." That wasn't exactly the truth, Kaname had known she was a dhampir sired by an Ichijo but she hadn't been aware that he'd learned this fact from her blood until he'd told her in the car while they were on their way here, but neither vampire seemed inclined to dispute the fact. "Besides," she added, "the Kurans and the Ichijos are directly related, and I doubt that the fact is immediately obvious short of actually comparing the two bloodlines." Underneath the table, Takuma's hand stole over to hers, squeezing tightly in a congratulations of how she had handled the Senate with enough presumption and fire to let them know that she was just as sure of her actions as Kaname himself was, but the pureblood refrained from such actions, knowing they weren't quite called for yet. He'd praise Aurora once they'd left the Senate far behind them. "But if you insist," she continued, her eyes flashing that sharp green, "I would not mind letting a neutral third party taste my blood to determine if I am indeed an Ichijo."

Takuma's eyes lit up a bright crimson as he yanked her behind him, Kaname even visibly shifting his posture slightly into a better position to protect her should anyone attempt to take up her bold statement. Assuming Kaname was protecting his mate, it was natural for Takuma himself to react so violently to such a proposal from his sister and would have happened if anyone else from his family, including Asato, had offered his blood as well, the first man replied, "That won't be necessary, Aurora-san. You have no reason to lie to the Senate on a matter such as this one, and if you were going to tell such a blatant lie, it would make more sense for you to pretend to be a Kuran than an Ichijo." Behind the blond, where no one could see it, she fidgeted slightly at the last part of his words, but no one notice other than Kaname himself, but he withheld his opinion about the action for a later time. "But this does lead to the very interesting matter of Asato's will..."


End file.
